


Blurred Lines

by AoKise DaiKi (DigimonDestined)



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aomine Daiki Being an Idiot, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Smut, Friends With Benefits, Jealous Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryouta Being an Idiot, M/M, Mutual Pining, Porn with Feelings, Possessive Aomine Daiki, Slow Burn, Smut, aokise - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-05-23 11:04:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14933031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigimonDestined/pseuds/AoKise%20DaiKi
Summary: Life isn't as much of a disappointment as Aomine remembered it was. There's not much to complain about when he's got free reign in classes, or when he actually ends up enjoying himself at off-season practice.And certainly none when Kise is such a great booty call.Of course, until Aomine starts to think he might not be the only one who's recently hung out in Kise's bed.(Or the one where Aomine and Kise find the lines blurring, between friends with benefits and...something else.And neither of them minds.)





	1. All is Good

**Author's Note:**

  * For [27thSky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/27thSky/gifts), [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Written as a request, to Fireball_Fuchsia! Sorry it's incredibly late and terribly long, I got caught up in your great prompt. It was the good kind of long; I had so many ideas, I couldn't fit all of them concisely, and I kinda digressed from your prompt, but I hope you enjoy what I have anyways :)  
>   
>   
>  _Shoutouts to:_  
>  **27thSky:** You have been an incredible friend all this time, and I'm so glad your exams are over AND I CAN'T WAIT TO READ AMEND- OMG so hyped. I find myself often using you and your constantly positive attitude (you know, I can be a huge bratty downer when I want to :P) as a reminder and inspiration and positive influence :D  
>  Please teach me how not to procrastinate on writing :P Anyways, I'm almost embarrassed for this work but aha, I have no dignity left to lose! WHOOOOOO!  
>   
>  **sourinralia:** who actually even helped beta-read this shit :D Here's to more talks about sexy boys! Lmao, please do not think too badly of me if you manage to survive this.  
>   
>  **TheAnderfelsOne:** I hope you're doing well on the master paper! (Am waiting for a bunch of your works' updates!) Anyways, thank you for also beta reading! You were pretty much the first aokise fan I ever interacted with xD and thank you for encouraging me to write this.
> 
> \---  
> *This story might remind you of a different story but honestly, I didn't mean to copy anything. Some of the ideas are a little similar but I promise, this is original work.  
> I'm actually pretty proud of this one! Mutual pining is my other favorite trope, but here it is: feelings realization! Whoo! (Oh, when I said proud, I also meant highly embarrassed xD)  
> Hope everyone enjoys anyways! Please leave a comment! Thank you to my regulars!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise gives a small shake of his head, a bit woeful. "I guess we need to cool it on the public displays of affections."
> 
> "There weren't even that many to begin with," Aomine argues. "We don't do any of that hand holding or dinner date shit. We're fuck buddies and we act just like it." Kise scrunches up his nose like he's tasted something sour, but Aomine is already pressing on. "I just slipped up. Don't worry, I won't kiss you again."
> 
> "But I like the kisses."
> 
> "...well then...just not in front of anyone else." Aomine amends.

Life isn't as much of a disappointment as Aomine remembered it was. There's not much to complain about when he's got free reign in classes, with his teachers all aware convincing him to work on academics is more work than simply handing out a low pass; or when he regularly shows up to off-season practice, thinking of Akashi or Kagami steadily increasing power to serve as motivation, and ends up actually enjoying himself.

And there are certainly no complaints when Kise is such a great booty call.

 

 

It's so _hot,_ Aomine thinks _,_ sweat keeping the strands of his tousled hair slicked back. Even with open windows, the room is stuffy, almost suffocating. It's almost as if he can't just have himself one hot Kise Ryouta,  _everything_  else has to be hot  _too._

But, Aomine is provided with more than enough compensation with Kise. Kise, on his knees and hands, clenching the sheets tightly, murmuring, " _Harder._ " and writhing when he's granted his wish. Kise, with the way his whole body trembles as he struggles to keep his pretty, perfect ass high up in the air, sending the predator deep in Aomine swelling with undeniable, rich satisfaction.

So all the heat is alright with Aomine; Kise is more than worthy of any setback he could ever bring.

Keeping his hands clamped over Kise's fine hips, Aomine bends so his chest presses into Kise's back and he can fit his chin over the junction of Kise's neck and shoulder. He sweeps over the delicate skin stretched over collarbone first with soft lips, then firm teeth. The body beneath him shudders. 

"Are you feeling unwell, Model-chan?" Aomine mocks.

Man, Kise would look good painted everywhere with dark reds that will turn to loud purples, visible reminders of the things they'd done, foreshadow to the things they'd keep doing.  _But_ , his mind argues,  _you're not supposed to help Kise attract attention_. So instead, Aomine tilts his head up to Kise's ear, and after flicking his tongue to send the silver earring trembling, huskily murmurs, "Lemme make you feel better."

"And you said I was the loud one. You're the one who can't seem to shut up." Kise snaps, but there's no bite to his bark, especially when Aomine grins and bucks hard, giving Kise's inhale an hitch. "Shit! Daiki-"

Aomine presses his lips against Kise's burning nape, licks away a drop of sweat, and half-muffled, mumbles, "Talk dirty to me, Ryou."

" _Hnng_...no...fuck you, that's your job."

It draws out a low chuckle. "Heh, now I remember why I even asked you out that night-"

" _Propositioned_ , you mean?"

Aomine knows the scorch Kise tries to raise isn't really there and ignoring what flimsy thing is, says, " -was 'cause of your damn mouth."

Spitefully, Kise tightens around Aomine. Who lets out a low, staggering groan. But it's still all too easy for him to remember Kise's responses that night, how  _cocky, sonofabitch_  Kise had mercilessly teased him with, ' _What makes you think I'd be interested in you?'_ and, ' _My, my, Aominecchi, I caught your attention so now you want mine?' Yet_  by the end of the night when they'd only had faint, willowy moonshine and the low yellow gaze of streetlights to see each other (not that they really needed their eyes when they were able to just  _touch),_ it had been the other way around, Kise whining, ' _Maahh, Aominecchi, hurry up.'_

Aomine smirks at the mere memories. Aloud, he says, "Though we could put it to better use...later... if you know what I mean..."

"You have my ass and that's what you're thinking about?"

Aomine shrugs but his grin isn't apologetic in the least. "Actually, I have _you_  and I'm thinking about...us."

Kise refrains from saying, "Daiki, that's not what normal people mean when they say, 'about us'. only because Aomine's fierce thrust already has him clenching down. His fingers furiously dig into the unruly bed sheets beneath them as he throws his head back in a long, loud moan, ripped away from control. Aomine would laugh but he's too busy grinding his teeth, gripping Kise's hips in bruising force, trying his hardest to prevent himself from doing the same, and failing spectacularly.

They take a quiet respite where their breaths go from loud pants to slow intakes and exhales that blend in with the quiet of the night. Aomine chucks the used condom at the plastic green wastebasket at the foot of desk right from his spot on the bed, watching it sink with a muted thump. He turns back with a self-satisfied look. Kise laughs, sound and expression both soft and fond, just as his touch is when he reaches for Aomine's forearm and wiggles closer to the other.

"What are you thinking?" Aomine asks, propping himself up on an elbow and leaning over so he's got a perfect view of Kise's face, rosy flush still very very present. "How good I was? How glad you are that we're fuck buddies? How good I was?" He raises a finger to tap Kise's nose, once, twice-

"Be quiet." Kise playfully snaps upwards. When Aomine doesn't move, Kise ends up with his lips around Aomine's digit.

Aomine can practically feel his eyes twinkling. "So you did want something to suck on, huh?"

Kise bites.

More out of instinctive reaction than pain, Aomine lets out yelp

Kise lets go. "Sorry, what were you saying? I've kinda gotten immune to my fangirls and their high voices, so, well, I guess you understand that means I can't really hear you- "

Aomine stares.

Kise pulls his hands up defensively and shrieks right into Aomine's ears -  _like some fucking wild bird -_ but Aomine's hellbent on revenge. Boxing Kise's sides with his knees and trapping his legs with the majority of his weight, Aomine Daiki becomes the world's first man to have committed murder through tickling.

(The process's six glorious minutes are permanently etched into his memory.)

 

 

Kise pulls his hood up and yanks down on the drawstrings as he stomps away, the soles of his shoes slapping against the pavement of the sidewalk loudly.

" _Ry-ou_ ," Aomine drawls as he jogs. "C'mon, I was just having some fun!"

"You can have fun on your own, from now on. I quote you," Kise drops his voice down a few tones to mimic Aomine's rich baritone though his personal lilt of sarcasm remains, "' _If...y'know what I mean._ '"

"Aww, you know jacking myself off is no fun now that I can see you so often." Aomine teases, taking large strides to match Kise's growing ones. If there's been a bright side of Seirin's victory killing both their seasons, it's that Aomine has more excuses to leave school early, and Kise has less to refuse him when he shows up at Kaijo after school hours with an old basketball, a ratty black t-shirt, and a grin that says,  _Hi, ready to lose again?_

Of course, afterwards when they go to Kise's place and have a catch up conversation, maybe play some video games or watch a movie through cold leftovers, Kise counts the day as a tie when the roles are reversed and it's Aomine who's wide-eyed, flushed and breathless-  _on his bed_.

"You're just using me for my body!" Kise complains. He slows down enough for Aomine to fall in step with anyways.

"Yeah, yeah... baka..." Aomine nods, gradually trailing off.

The blond has pursed his mouth in a silly pout, leaving his rather noticeably swollen lips very much out in the open, even  _vulnerable._  This reminder of their recent activities has Aomine slowly dipping his head, gravitating towards his new center of focus. The corners of Kise's mouth quirk up into a pleased little grin before he tilts his head up, ready to indulge the other, who closes his eyes.

Suddenly, a pain in Aomine's head has him reeling back a couple of steps. " _Ow._ What-" He shuts his mouth, suddenly hyperaware of the four new people in his vicinity. Momoi has an eyebrow pointedly arched at him but the rest of the girls are looking at Kise with bright eyes and even brighter smiles.

The boldest one, tossing her thick, glossy, black mane and letting it ripple approvingly says, "Wow, Kise-kun, you're even more attractive in person. We didn't think it was possible."

"Why thank you," Kise flashes a smug smirk at Aomine for a split second before he turns back to them, letting it mellow out. "It means a lot coming from such attractive women like yourselves." Aomine rolls his eyes as they dissolve into giggles.

"Momoi-chan here told us she was friends with you," Another says, poking Momoi in friendly acknowledgement before returning her attention to Kise. "Which is really cool, but I mean out of curiosity- how did it happen? Can we, like, hear the details?"

"Oh, hey Aomine-kun." The last one pipes up and Aomine suddenly realizes why their aggravating high-pitched voices sound so familiar. They're schoolmates. "How are you? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah," Momoi says pleasantly, cocking her head to the side. "Dai-chan, what are you doing here withKi-chan? _"_

"Ah?" Aomine grumbles, hands finding their way into the pockets of his hoodie. "Sorry mom, did you not see my note?"

While the other girls giggle, Momoi growls and takes a swing at Aomine who sidesteps behind Kise. "Cool it woman!"

Momoi flickers before she's retorting, "If you don't have anything useful to say, shut up, you waste of space."

"Sasucchi, don't worry, I'll hold him down and tie him up-"

Aomine jerks away from Kise like he's been shocked because  _fuck,_ _Kise has done that before_. "- while you get him!"

The girls laugh again. Aomine feels this uncontrollable urge to roll his eyes. Why the hell do they all have such dumb sounding voices?

"So anyways, are you busy right now?" The first one leads back into. "Or do you want to hang out or something?" The other girls fix Kise with identical puppy-eyed expressions.

Kise puts a hand on the back of his neck. "Sorry girls, I'd love to, but my friend Aominecchi and I are going for a game. Maybe some other day?"

Aomine smirks.  _Right._

They part, Kise's fangirls sulking and Momoi with a loud call of, "Dai-chan, we're talking later!" Aomine ignores them both, and he and Kise make their way to one of their favorite basketball courts, somewhat midway between their schools. The chain link fencing is shaky, the ground lines are in need of a new paint job and some of the trees on the side have starting dropping their leaves over the fence, but there's never many people.

From the three point line, Aomine goes for an easy fade away knowing he's got Kise's eyes on him, and when the net snaps up graciously, he asks, exasperated, "Did you really have to headbutt me?"

"Satsucchi was there! I panicked, okay?" Kise passes the ball. "Are you still hung up about that, you big baby?"

Aomine snorts. When he drives, Kise readies himself and jumps. Aomine practically ignores him, slamming the ball right over his outstretched arms and hanging onto the rim for good measure, letting it ring.

"Show off." Kise breathes, with not so much annoyance as...  _appreciation_.

Aomine grins casually. It's almost too easy to make Kise sound like that. He backs up for another shot- _swish_. "Y'know, Satsuki kinda gave me some weird looks."

Kise's head jerks a little. "You don't think...she knows?"

"I don't know." Aomine admits, honest. It really is a little disconcerting. "She would be smart enough to figure it out. But I think we've been covering our asses just fine."

He personally still wasn't too concerned in keeping their relationship quiet.

If Momoi knew, she would probably alternate between shouting bullshit like, " _I knew it!_ " and, " _Oh my god Dai-chan, what are you doing?  Friend with benefits never work out!_ " Kise's parents probably wouldn't enjoy knowing 'Aominecchi,' regularly enjoyed their son. If someone like Imayoshi or Kagami found out, they would probably tease him as much as possible, and he would probably have to break a few teeth to shut them up. But, Aomine swore, if there was anyone, some fucker who  _dared_  to tell him his relationship with Kise was wrong or disgusting, he'd beat them right into the damn ground.

Kise however, was another story. According to him, if anyone knew, it would lead from mere whispers from tabloids to published, factually investigated news that would shatter the fan-base he and his team had carefully crafted over the years. Whenever Aomine argued that it would really show who his 'fans' were, Kise fixed him a look he couldn't decipher and changed the subject.

So they kept their relationship secret- from fans, teammates and friends.

Kise gives a small shake of his head, a bit woeful. "I guess we need to cool it on the public displays of affections."

"There weren't even that many to begin with," Aomine argues. "We don't do any of that hand holding or dinner date shit. We're fuck buddies and we act just like it." Kise scrunches up his nose like he's tasted something sour, but Aomine is already pressing on. "I just slipped up. Don't worry, I won't kiss you again."

Kise pouts. "But I like the kisses." From under the net, he lets Aomine's ball drop to the ground.

There's no one else on the court, no one else in the secluded  _public'_ area.

"...well then... just not in front of anyone else." Aomine amends.

Kise's grin exists for all of two seconds before Aomine's lips start the rewrite.

* * *

Their relationship continues.

Aomine seldom pops up directly at Kise's house, most times, one of them will show up at the others' school, and they ride the bus quietly, trading simplistic banter over their day, talking about everything from their classes to the latest PS4 game. Aomine always keeps his hands to himself, even after making sure their aren't any attentive passengers nearby. But when he casually swipes his tongue over dark chapped lips, when his dark blue predatory gaze slides down Kise ever so fucking slowly when he thinks Kise isn't looking, Kise wants to flip the world off, throw himself onto his knees, and take Aomine's cock in his mouth, right then and there. 

God, maybe it's just his stupid hormones-  _and_   _he thought the pimples had been the worse part of puberty-_ but recently, he'd felt this growing urge to increase their bi-weekly meetings, whenever he could get away with it. Aomine, if he had noticed Kise's more frequent calls and texts, hadn't given any sign of disinclination.

They don't mention it when they race their skateboards around the parking lot of the local mall with flipped baseball caps and not helmets. Or when Aomine blasts outdated pop songs on his laptop from the floor of his bedroom with his legs stretched out, making half-assed attempts at his homework while Kise lies across Aomine's back, staring up at the ceiling and humming along. Or when Kise shouts, ' _Oh, fuck you!'_ while Aomine smirks, sitting on him so the former who can't see the screen has to take up undignified button-mashing. Or when they watch  _Ring_  on Aomine's sofa, with Kise practically in tears out of fear, even with Aomine's strong arm wrapped around his shoulder as he whispers quiet teasing words into his ear, peppering sweet, little chaste kisses up and down his neck.

It's not his fault all of these  _casual_  activitieseventually, someway or another, lead to Kise begging Aomine to fuck him. But  _god._ It's getting hard to hang out with Aomine just as a friend because of how much Kise wants Aomine to  _touch_  him whenever they meet.

 

 

Then, before Kise knows it, summer is waltzing in.

Before he knows it, Kasamatsu is no longer shouting, "Oi, dumbass number seven! You bring your permission forms? Yes? Okay, then get on the fucking bus!" and they're stumbling off that very vehicle, groaning as they peel their sweaty selves off the cheap seats, and lug their bags into the resort, a quiet little thing.

While Takeuchi and Kasamatsu handle the check-in over at the front desk, the rest of them ungraciously collapse into the little leather armchairs. Out of the interest of dissociation, Kise walks away from his teammates, snickering under his breath. The staff are probably reassessing their decision to accept hosting a group of rowdy high school boys- even if just for their bedding option in their summer camp.  _Oh well._  Too late for them to change their minds.

He's barely walked out of the lobby when he's yanked backwards, off balance so his back collides into someone's chest. An arm wraps around his waist, its hand gripping his hip insistently, holding him there; the assailant's other crosses up Kise's chest, and the hand molded around his jaw tilts his head to the side. Shock seizes Kise. He opens his mouth to protest, to growl, to  _snarl_ , but then the second has gone by because Aomine's lips are busy claiming his.

Kise completely gives in. His eyes close. His lips part. His shoulders go lax as he leans back into Aomine's steady chest. He turns his head a little to get better access, even hooking an arm behind Aomine's neck to fist a handful of messy blue. Against his own, Aomine's lips slip upright into a smirk before an aggressive tongue is slipping in and then Kise is simply moaning softly into the other's mouth.

When Aomine finally pulls off, Kise slips out of a loosened grip. He turns around to a grin so satisfied and cheekily pleased, it fuels the hungry burn in his cheeks. While fighting the urge to slap the other, Kise mutters, "You're an idiot, Daiki."

Aomine chuckles. "That's the first thing you say to me? And here I was, about to tell you that I missed you."

Kise's breath catches. Despite himself, despite that they're merely in a semi-private wing, a hallway that leads down to the rooms of the floor- and fortunate no one is around- despite their relationship is simply and strictly friendship with benefits, Kise thinks nothing of linking his hands around Aomine's neck, buries his head into Aomine's shoulder and lets out a contented sigh. "What are you even doing here?"

The flick at the back of his head makes him look up. Aomine grins back. "You forget, airhead? We do our training camps here too."

Kise blinks. Perhaps he had missed that part of Kasamatsu's explanation. "Wait-"

"Kise! _Kise,_ you shit _\- If you don't drag your dumb ass here right now_ -"

"That's your cue, Ryou. See ya," Aomine presses a fleeting kiss against Kise's nape before nudging him away. Smirking. " _Later._ " Kise doesn't quite miss his implication.

But as he stumbles away, his brain wheels like mad.  _Aomine- fucking A-o-m-i-n-e is here. Damn._

Now that he knows his lover will only be a couple of rooms away, a floor at most, Kise wants to groan. Considering how his sexual appetite has been unhelpfully increasing through the recent months, celibacy's not even a realistic option. They'll just have to spend their three weeks extracting a whole lot of willpower  _to stay discreet_ - but nothing less than that; he has  _needs_ and he's entitled to them, dammit.

Back in the lobby, he's met with a few different variations of incredulous.

"Did you just get hot and heavy with some girl right under our noses?" Moriyama says, looking distinctively impressed. Hayakawa sputters out something like, "Respect." and Nakamura nods in agreement. Takenuchi scrutinizes him under a careful gaze.

Kasamatsu looks so livid, Kise flinches the moment he opens his mouth. "Hey, dipshit, where were you? Do you think we're here for you to socialize? What happened to wanting to get better? Huh? Did you know that bastard Aomine's team got here before us?" Kise wants to protest it's  _that bastard's_  very fault for his hold-up, but then Kasamatsu is spitting, "Are you  _asking_  him to stay better than you?"

The last item is the one that completely flushes his other thoughts out of his mind, carving a cold path of motivation that leaves nothing between him and his goal, improvement. "Don't worry, Senpai." Kise lifts his head. Even the urge to look over his shoulder to see if Aomine is watching him washes away. "I won't let anything distract me."

(Kise hopes it's not easier said than done.)

 

 

Later that day, Kaijo and Touou drop into the resort's impressive gymnasium and share what remains of the day as an introductory practice to lead them into their intense training schedules for the rest of the three weeks.

Takenochi abruptly invites Touou over to join their practice. Kise's jaw almost drops onto the ground when Harasawa accepts and Imayoshi instructs their team to follow along Kaijo's training plans.

The instant Kasamatsu announces, "Stretch," Aomine is by Kise's side. As Kise arches his back to touch his toes, Aomine leans over, not bending quite as low, just enough so he can rumble into Kise's ear, "Hey."

Kise shivers. Whereas his earlier words had just been easy, teasing, Aomine's low, carefully measured voice now reverberates in his ears; his breath is hot on Kise's neck.  _Fuck._ This would be a shitty time to get turned on. Only his blessed brain gets him hissing, "Aominecchi,  _go away._ "

"Still don't like my greeting? I thought you'd appreciate this one much more, even considering how eagerly you reacted last time," Aomine mocks.

 _That's not fair, you attacked me!_  Kise thinks indignantly, though only gritting out, "I'll text you later, now leave me alone."

Aomine's smirk doesn't leave until he does. Kise breathes a sigh of relief.

But he's forgotten how much of a  _shit_  Aomine can be.

The retiring seniors sit by the sidelines to watch the practice scrimmage, and Kise naively hopes them being there will school Aomine's behavior.

It's embarrassing, how wrong he is.

When he brings up the ball, Aomine swipes his tongue from one corner of his mouth to the other, gaze stormy, yet at the same time, burning into Kise's. When he passes then cuts the opposite way, Aomine reaches out and brushes his fingertips over Kise's deltoids, exposed by his stupid practice jersey. And when Aomine chases after him, staying close so he can breathe hot, exaggerated breaths on the back of Kise's nape. When he goes up for a dunk, Aomine jumps from behind him, leaning so his chest pushes into Kise's back so he loses his balance, giving Aomine an excuse to reach out to steady him with a fake apology over a real grin.

By the time Takeuchi dismisses them, Kise is so horny, he might  _die_.

He huffs rather ungraciously when they skulk into the change room in a messy clump, an amorphous blob that doesn't allow Aomine to press up behind him, maybe subtly grope his ass, maybe outright rub his cock against it. Because  _fuck_ , he would've pushed right back.

The room is so spacious that both teams can fit in the one room, though the players stick to their respective sides, ignoring the little island of benches between them. While the other guys start casually taking their sweaty shirts off, Kise sits down and keeps his eyes on the ground.

"Kaijo brats," Kasamatsu slaps a crisp palm against the exit door, catching their attention. "Good job- but don't get ahead of yourselves. We're doing conditioning tomorrow, at six. Change quickly, then go to bed."

Across the room, Aomine lets out a quiet chuckle. Even with his head down, Kise assumes he's thinking,  _My bed._

While Imayoshi makes a similar speech, Kise keeps his head down between hunched shoulders. As long as he has to sit here with the insufferable bastard that he c _an't- even- touch,_  he's going to have to stay calm unless he wants both of their schools to find out the extent of their 'friendship'.

"Kise."

The blond looks up to meet gray eyes. Kasamatsu makes a waving motion. "Hurry up. Everyone else is almost done."

"Ah, sorry, senpai," Kise lets out a little laugh. He doesn't even need to feign the nervousness. "My stomach's been hurting really badly." He ignores the sniggering from the opposing team-  _Aomine_ \- and brightens his smile as much as he can. "You go on without me."

"We will, you say that like it's a disappointment." Kasamatsu snorts. _More snickers_. "I know it's early but if you're not in your room by curfew, I'm going to fucking hunt you down, and beat up you and your pretty face so badly, your fans won't even be able to recognize you, you hear me?"

"Yes, senpai."

Kasamatsu flashes him an irritable look like even his obedience is annoying, but he leaves without another word and the other players also start to filter out in groups of two or three, chattering quietly until the door closes one last time. Kise inhales slowly.

" _Ryou_ -"

Kise shoots up and he's already got his hands on Aomine's strong, firm body, running his hands up under his loose t-shirt, over hard abs, taut pectorals, dark nipples. Aomine grunts before he reaches for Kise and roughly smashes their lips together, kissing in a way that only makes Kise feel more touch starved than ever. But when he reaches for Aomine's waistband, Aomine suddenly pulls away, "Ah, shit."

Kise whines, too upset for words.

Aomine looks at him. "I didn't bring a condom."

In his lust hazed brain, Kise wants to breathe, " _You don't need one_." Wants to lunge for Aomine. Wants to have his knees cold on the dirty dusty floor, Aomine twisting his fingers into his hair, demanding him to  _beg_  to take more. Wants to lie on the benches on his back with his legs bent, let that slicked cock thrust up his ass hard and fast, crying out while Aomine smirks down in endlessly superiority. Wants to have Aomine's cum drip out of his ass, and run down his thighs,  _marking_  him.

But then he thinks about how much of a mess it would physically be. How much hot water he'd be in if Kasamatsu ended up coming back. How beds are much more comfortable than benches are. How in the privacy of his room, Aomine will probably stay, fuck him...through the night.

Oh god, Kise wants that, wants  _Aomine, so bad._

He highly doubts anyone will inquire why Aomine wasn't in his room but if they do, well, Kise can always be honest and say Aomine spent the night with someone. He's not obligated to say with whom.

"Come to my room." Kise says, shoving his basketball shoes into his gym bag and standing up, wiping the bead of sweat running down his forehead with the hem of his practice shirt. "Fourth floor, room twelve. Give me a couple of minutes so I get there first."

Aomine says, "Er, alright." It sounds simple enough, his own room is convinently on the floor below. He'll drop his stuff there, pick up necessities and then head up.

Kise leaves. Even as he messily swipes his room card and stumbles over the threshold with Aomine practically falling atop of him past, still attached to his neck, Kise's own voice rings loud and clear in his ears.

_I won't let anything distract me._

Kise Ryouta doesn't make promises he intends to break.

He just needs one last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I kept digressing from the prompt; I'm pretty sure there are several parts that actually don't read like a part of a story??? But-
> 
> Thank you to all my regular readers and friends; you bitches are quarter reason I write, here's to living in OTP land.
> 
> Everyone else:  
> I'm glad you're enjoying my writing, I love reading your thoughts (cuz I'm weird and it gives me a sense of accomplishment that someone took the time to appreciate what I put effort into) so much that sometimes, I read your comments over and over again.
> 
> TUMBLR: DigimonDestined  
> hmu anytime, let's talk trash- I mean otp. Same thing.


	2. All is Weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wakamatsu hums, "You know, I thought it was weird. Ever since we've gotten here, Kise hasn't been following Aomine around like a lost puppy." 
> 
> Imayoshi looks down at Aomine. "Things alright between you two?"
> 
> "Shut up," Aomine snaps, and his arms switch from trembling out of exhaustion to annoyance. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."
> 
> "Lovers' quarrel?"
> 
> Aomine actually snarls.

Aomine wakes up to little persistent tugs in his hair. It takes his sleep addled brain a second to realize he's in the queen sized bed of a hotel room and it's Kise who is propped up on an elbow looking down at him, another to remember how he got there, and a third to remember what they'd done. A wide grin spreads across his face when it all comes back to him. He reaches up, fastens a hand over Kise's wrist and brings it away from his hair to run his tongue down the inside.

"None of that," Kise chides. He sounds soft and relaxed so Aomine really can't take him seriously. "It's almost six. I'm late and you're going to get in trouble if Kasamatsu comes over to check on me and finds you here."

Behind windows with undrawn drapes, the sun is already stretching into the sky, throwing a pink hue over the low clouds. With the surrounding buildings with their lights off, it's a oddly pleasant scene. Aomine particularly likes how it accentuates Kise's tangled bed hair as he sits up, pulling a new t-shirt over his head.

"You sure talk about your senpai a lot."

"Jealous?"

Aomine snorts generously and Kise chuckles before he crawls over to the edge of the bed and looks down. "You seen my pants?"

Aomine stares shamelessly because Kise's ass is  _fine,_  no matter how often he gets to touch it. Only when he lets out a long wolf whistle does Kise whip around, bashing a pillow into his nose.

" _Really_? You- you absolute pervert!"

"It's not my fault- practically begged me to look." Aomine grumbles petulantly, then rolling away. "I think you _broke_ my nose."

"You big baby." Kise rolls his eyes. He slides off the bed and walks over to his suitcase. Aomine is graciously tossed a shirt. "Put that on. It might be a little small-."

The cotton death trap is already stretched over his broad shoulders.

Kise lets out a sigh and Aomine thinks it sounds strangely wistful. "-but it'll make you look really good."

The clock on the bedside table reads 6:03 A.M so Aomine points it out and Kise yelps, "Shit, I gotta go!" He hurries into shorts, snatches his gym bag off the floor and calls, "Don't get caught. Bye."

Aomine yawns at the closing door.

* * *

 "Slow down or you'll puke that all back up," Wakamatsu warns.

The food piled on Aomine's overstuffed plate continues disappearing.

Imayoshi laughs and leans back into his own chair. "Leave him be. It'll serve as a good reminder for next time."

Aomine sneers, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Or keep talking. I could use another excuse to posterize you."

Wakamatsu scowls. "Senpai, how am I ever going to captain this guy?"

Aomine smirks and is about to reply when yellow flashes in his vision. Then, Aomine is out of his seat, strolling towards Kise, who stands among a group of heavily sweating Kaijo players. Most of them wear dampened shirts, few of them are panting or throwing down water, some have their hands on their knees or sink into nearby chairs. A couple of the more athletic ones even regain the strength to stumble into the buffet area.

"They've got some interesting western food and some traditional deserts." says Aomine, having leaned into Kise's personal space. A lewd smile accompanies his whisper, "But I'm still hungry."

"Then you better go get in line." Kise turns away.

Aomine freezes. "What?"

The blond has already walked away.

Aomine frowns.

 

 

Arms pulled tight over his head, back arched, legs bent, Kise's setup is flawless, just as is his graceful execution. Minimal droplets skip away from the resounding capillary waves while Kise runs a strong free stroke. He reaches the other side, touches the wall and is off again.

Aomine watches him go through a few more laps, easily out swimming his teammates in the other lanes before he tosses the towel around his neck onto a spare beach chair and treads down the deck in cheap plastic sandals, stopping at the shallow end of Kise's lane.

The blond pulls up, this time rising to a stand where water rushes off his shoulders and licks at his orange swim trunks. He pulls his goggles of so they slick back his messy strands of wet gold, and then puts his hands on the deck to lift himself out of the water, pausing midway just so the excess water streams off.

With an ironically dry throat, Aomine only barely manages, "I didn't know you swam so well."

"Well I do." Kise says, curt, looking down as he slips on his sandals, and then over his shoulder as he waves to his teammates on the nearby bleachers. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Kise walks.

Aomine stands, speechless.

 

"Five minutes left," Wakamatsu calls, circling the cardio equipment again. Responses are grunts and puffs or nods of acknowledgement.

From his treadmill, Aomine increases his speed by a whole level, taking shorter strides and more steps. In afterthought, he lowers his incline to subdue the persistent ache in his legs, a warning that he is nearing his limits.

Even with the rock roaring in his ears. pumping through his veins as he runs, Aomine is still pissed beyond placation. It's been a couple of days since their last interaction and yet, Aomine's head is still hella messed up. Somehow, the Kaijo player manages to worm his way into every one of Aomine's thoughts, which is real friggen annoying when Aomine tries to actually focus on something Plus, Aomine _actually has made attempts to talk_ to the other, thinking that maybe it's his guilty conscious that's nagging him because things between them are... weird. So when Kise can't be civil enough to allow him a fucking conversation, _what the hell is he supposed to do_?

Getting pissed seems reasonable.

"Alright, let's hit the gym!" Wakamatsu shouts, and then being the great new captain he is, adds, "I mean...the actual gym. For, uh, basketball, you know?"

Aomine snickers, and raises his voice to make fun of the dumb blond; although, Wakamatsu makes a poor substitute for the one Aomine is really thinking of.

 

The gym just so happens to be occupied by Kaijo. But it's not a coincidence that the minute Aomine steps into the gym, Kise has grabbed the retiring and new captain, engaging them in conversation.

Aomine grits his teeth, turns back to his team and lets Wakamatsu think he really can boss him around.

Ten, twenty minutes in, having very nicely run down his team with his aggressive speed and power, Aomine is feeling a little better, even on the border of satisfaction. Imayoshi strides in front of the team and announces, "Alright squirts, we'll play a game and then call it quits." Good work today." Then he starts dividing the team up, assigning them pinines.

"Oi, four eyes, you're not playing?" Aomine cups his hands around his mouth obnoxiously, when Imayoshi sits down between Wakamatsu and Harasawa on the bench on the sidelines. "I could use one last game to kick your ass."

Wakamatsu tries for a growl that makes him sound sort of like a hippo, but to Imayoshi's credit, he turns to the team and smiles, all wide mouth and not eyes. "Anyone that wants to do some extra training can sit out and join Aomine in his push-ups." The senior's pointed look strikes the said person. "100, now. "

Aomine shows him a choice gesture instead of pleading for mercy, but Imayoshi remain unwavering. Soon enough, the ace has dragged himself over to the coach and captains' bench and begun. The punishment is agonizing. Every muscle in his arms screams for Imayoshi's life to be forfeited. By 30, Aomine has cut his time by half. By 40, he has resigned to listening to his seniors' boring talk about _'plays'_ and _'more practice_ ' and whatnot.

"Aomine," comes a sick attempt at a trill. The ace pause on the up and treats Imayoshi to a scowl. Imayoshi smiles sweetly. "Count. Aloud. Start again."

" _Duuuuuuuude_!"

"Again."

That's it, he's going to throttle four-eyes on his graduation night, Aomine vows as he rests, stretching his arms overhead and cracking the kinks out of his neck. When Wakamatsu says, "So what do you think about Kaijo?" he starts again, this time muttering the numbers dully, just loud enough for Imayoshi not to complain.

"...fast learning...catching up...aces...strategy...Kise-"

And just like that, Aomine's concentration is ripped back on the blond- for fuck's sake- at just a mere mentioning of his name. If he slows down a little to better hear his teammates, he doesn't notice.

Wakamatsu hums, "You know, I thought it was weird. Ever since we've gotten here, Kise hasn't been following Aomine around like a lost puppy." 

Imayoshi looks down at Aomine. "Things alright between you two?"

"Shut up," Aomine snaps, and his arms switch from trembling out of exhaustion to annoyance. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."

"Lover's quarrel?"

Aomine actually snarls.

Wakamatsu tilts his head to the side and taps his chin thoughtfully and he almost sounds like a schoolgirl when he brightens up. "Or maybe not."

"Not." Aomine spits.

Wakamatsu continues like he hasn't heard. "Maybe he just finally accepted one of his fangirls and has himself a girlfriend-"

"What the fuck?" Aomine doesn't even realize he's stood up and now he's got a handful of Wakamatsu's shirt. Punching something sounds like a good arm cool-off.

"Actually..." And the leer in the retiring captain's voice is so aggressive, it makes Aomine look over. Imayoshi nods to the Kaijo's half of the gym, where the team is taking a water break...where Kasamatsu flicks Kise's forehead...saying something that changes Kise's pout and whine to a smile and laugh, makes him throw an arm around the senior in a casual hug-

"Maybe it's a boyfriend." Imayoshi says, his smile sliding sly, a smirk. "And I'm willing to bet it's Captain Kasamatsu."

Aomine stills, an action solely more terrifyingly than that time Imayoshi tried to confess to a girl in his homeroom. His blood starts to freeze over as Kise's behavior fast forwards through his head.

Stops at the last time they'd screwed, the morning after in Kise's hotel room.

 

_"You sure talk about your senpai a lot."_

_"Jealous?"_

 

Every bit of his boiling blood has turned over, into a frozen wave of sheer, sharp, flawless ice. The Kise video plays again, hits when they'd met up again, just a little later when Kaijo had just finished training and Aomine had just finished breakfast.

 

_"But... I'm still hungry."_

_"Then you better go get in line."_

 

So. Aomine breathes out.

Kise didn't want to fuck him. Kise didn't want him because Kise had _other people?_   _T _his_ is why Kise has been avoiding him? Because he's found _ someone __more convenient, more accessible,_ for a fuck?_

_Because he's found _someone else?_ _

_Kasamatsu, you fucker._

Aomine snarls, savage, fierce, animalistic. From the deepest pit in his gut, something wants to guides him, purrs to him,  _trust your instincts. Let them free. Listen to them._ It lights him up and down, inside and out.

 

_"And I'm willing to bet it's Captain Kasamatsu."_

 

Aomine's blood, sealed in ice from the shock, _erupts_.

_Fuck that._

He hears little. Not Wakamatsu's indignant protest when he's ungraciously shoved so that he almost trips backwards over the bench, and not Imayoshi's sing-song, "Don't be too reckless." But Kise's teasing drawl and Kasamatsu's prickly grumbles get louder and louder until Aomine suddenly finds he has taken step after step, and is standing just a few lengths away from them.

Both of them turn to look at him.

Aomine doesn't know what he's doing, he just wants Kise _not to be standing with his arm draped over Kasamatsu_ , he wants them apart, he wants Kise where Kise belongs, not with this- this absolute loser, but _with him_.

Aomine grits out, "Kise. Let's talk. Now."

Kise's eye twitches but it's Kasamatsu who with irritation, says,  "We're in the middle of practice, Aomine. Just as you should be."

Maybe it's because Kasamatsu had responded _for_ Kise, but Aomine feels his patience exponentially declining faster and faster. He hopes his glare conveys, _stop testing me and mind your own fucking business-_ but for good measure, Aomine growls, "This is real fucking important. You'll be alright on your own without Kise for a couple of minutes."

(What he really means is  _you're going to watch me take Kise away and you're going to deal with it.)_

Kise steps closer. For a second, Aomine thinks he's perfect-copied Tetsu, with the way his voice goes dangerously quiet. "Please stop bothering me, Aominecchi."

Because this is the first time they've been this close to each since the...distancing thing happened, Aomine allows himself to leave the bright, _irritated_ golden eyes boring into his for a quick scan. He doesn't find any marks on Kise's neck. Does this mean Kise doesn't let Kasamatsu leave marks? Or that they're just not...entirely _visible_?

The latter thought turns his stomach, just like it turns his features into a furious scowl and Kise picks up on this sign of weakness, if the way he stands even closer, and _still_ unflinching, means anything.

His self-restraint has limits, and Aomine is definitely pressing on them, hard. One more moment and he'll give in, just step up and kiss the shit out of Kise. Using the utmost control, Aomine manages, "Ryouta."

And the way his blond's eyes go wide and his mouth drops open is an absolute sign he has won their little fight. It replenishes Aomine's confidence like some video game boost, allows him to smirk, ever self-satisfied, and say, _whisper_ , "We can talk in private. Or we can talk right here."

And the threat- _that_ is why Kise's eyes flash with incredulity, but all of that is also why he backs down, backs away to quietly say something to Kasamatsu who growls something low. Yet surprisingly, the senior stays surprisingly quiet when Kise shakes his head. And mostly quiet when Aomine follows Kise out of the gym, albeit a muttered expletive or two, which Aomine chooses to ignore, only because he's doing some thinking on what to say.

On how he doesn't ever want to hear Kasamatsu and Kise's name in the same conversation. How he doesn't ever want to see Kise acting so friendly, casual-touchy with the retiring senior again, how he doesn't ever want Kasamatsu to lay his eyes on Kise, how they should never even stay be in the same room together. 

_...how to explain he wants to be the only one Kise is with._

* * *

They travel in silence, with Aomine walking in front of him, so Kise has no idea what his expression is currently. But Kise kinda wants to know- both _that_ , and what the hell Aomine had been (or still was?) thinking, why had made him so damn _angry_.

The undeniable truth remains, Kise knows exactly what Aomine wants to talk about. Why Kise has been so cold since their last fuck. _But hell,_ Kise bites his lip. Why couldn't Aomine have just waited until after their training camps?

A part of Kise knows he should be taking their indefinite silence to think of an excuse for himself, because he's certainty not going to blurt out, 'Daiki, you're so fucking hot, I can't resist you. Every time I see you, I want you to screw my brains out.'

Because _yeah_ , he's got needs, but he's also got...shreds...of dignity left.

 _I beg to differ,_ points out his ever-so-helpful brain.  _What about that last fuck, where you were so desperate for Daiki you wanted to jump him in the change rooms? And not to mention right now, you with your perverted eyes practically glued to Daiki's hot ass?_

 _Shut it,_ Kise scolds himself.

And plus, Aomine would never let him live it down. Never.

Kise can hear it now, his obnoxious, sexy voice drawling, 'Hey guys, wanna hear the story of the time Kise  _told me_ how amazing I was without even asking?'

His vague idea of their destination solidifies when Aomine silently leads them into an elevator where the low whirring isn't enough to fill the tension between them in the little cramped box. Kise casts his eyes on his practice shoes because that's the only area that really feels safe here. Yet as the seconds tick by, Kise finds enough insight to tell Aomine's reasonably distracted.

Come to think of it, it's odd that Aomine has been this quiet the entire time.

The ding that strikes when they've hit the floor makes them both jump a little. Kise offers a nervous laugh. Aomine just walks out the open doors. A corridor is entered before Aomine stops at the second room, on the left. 

 _Now_ , Kise is panicking, oh god, what does he say when Aomine asks him what his problem is?

Aomine has pushed the door open, raising an eyebrow pointedly as Kise stumbles in after him. Kise takes in the room, two messy beds with untucked bedcovers and blankets, a variety of snacks on the TV's table, and a few dirty clothes carelessly tossed onto the ground. Kise turns around, ready to break the ice with a teasing joke about Aomine's terrible hyenine when Aomine has suddenly shoved him, hard, and given how he had already taken too many steps into the room, Kise falls back onto the nearest bed.

And then Aomine is kissing him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it so far.
> 
> Next chapter is filthy, glorious smut


	3. All is Hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kise stares, incredulous. "I'm not having sex with you, you-you delusional-"
> 
> "Your mouth says one thing, your dick says another."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PURE SMUT. SORRY.

In all honesty, it's a little bit like when Aomine had attacked him on the first day: unprovoked and without warning. It's also a little bit like their regular make out sessions: strong and forceful, all the rights kinds of passionate. At the same time, it's a little different, because they'd never been on hiatus before, not like now, where Kise has set down a strict,  _no-fooling-around-with-Daiki-because-you-need-to-focus-on-basketball_ rule.

Kise raises his hands, plants them on Aomine's shoulders and shoves the asshole away. "What the fuck," Kise manages, because Aomine rises on his knees and pulls his mesh pinny over his head to reveal beautiful, _glorious_ abs, all the more perfect for shining with sweat.

Kise missed worshipping them. So, in his defense, it's not really his fault the first thing he does is crawl over, and instantly his fingers are slipping up the hard, perfect plane of delicious meat. And if he drools a little, well who cares.

Aomine smirks, obviously self-satisfied, although before Kise can put his saliva and his tongue to good use, Aomine has pulled one of his arms up and started tugging his practice jersey off.

"Wait! Aominecchi, what are you doing?" He protests, obediently raising his other because...because...why not...Aomine will tear it if he doesn't, yeah that's why.

"Don't ' _Aominecchi_ ' me," Aomine mocks, eyes blue like twilight, darkening further by the second. "We're alone now. You can scream my name as loudly as you want, babe." Kise reflexively plants his hands back into the mattress as Aomine leans down, forwards, hovering right over Kise's chest.

Kise stares, incredulous. "I'm not having sex with you, you-you delusional-"

"Your mouth says one thing, your dick says another."

And while Kise desperately reaches out, trying to knock his hand away, Aomine reaches under Kise's shorts, grabs him from his base and _strokes_. Kise gasps, because the move is so impatient and fierce, it almost hurts, because it's been too long since Aomine has touched him, because they shouldn't be doing this, they should be doing basketball training. But even with Kise's hand halfheartedly over his own, Aomine does it again, making sure the pressure is just enough for Kise to hiss, "Aominecchi-"

"What did I tell you about the nickname?" Aomine snaps, scraping his nails over Kise's balls before gripping his pretty cock once more. "Ryou, if you don't listen, I won't hesitate to punish you."

The heated warning in Aomine's voice makes Kise swell a little more, and because Aomine fucking notices this, he smirks like the son-of-a-demon he is. "I see how it is."

Kise frowns, practically his own defense because he doesn't quite know what to say, even less when Aomine leans in- and suddenly goes for Kise's pectoral.

"Shit," Kise cries, falling back onto an elbow, a pillow propping up his upper back. Without a hesitation, Aomine follows, kneeling in between Kise's legs to stay connected. The warm, wet, insistent mouth makes the blond arch his back, granting Aomine absolute access to a quickly hardening nipple. "Shit, shit, shit." And the hand he has wrapped in thick blue hair, tightens every chant. It's been too long since he's felt Aomine treating his nipples like some sweet treat given to him to savor as some bountiful extra reward for his amazing sexual prowess. When the taller boy nibbles, Kise groans, he flicks his tongue, Kise throws his head back.

Aomine pulls off, says, almost carelessly, "You taste nice, Ryou," and his hand, the one not casually still jerking Kise off while he's still in his shorts (fuck, Aomine's probably going to make him cum in his underwear like a dumb preteen, just because he can), slides up a defined hip and fine ribs, and pinches.

"Ngh..." Each tug on his nipple, each stroke down his cock only makes his body burn hotter and hotter, submitting to Aomine's use, accepting it, and _wanting more_. Maybe it's because of the hiatus that had felt like it have gone on forever, but Kise thinks pressure is building up much faster than usual.

Aomine moves to Kise's other side and with his fingers pressing against Kise's pec, nails gently digging into his skin, Aomine sucks. Kise's elbow gives out and he falls back onto the safe mattress. Which is undoubtfully plush, but uncomfortable; it's hard to squirm on such soft, reactive material, although it does give him the ability to wrap his hands around Aomine's head, holding him right against his chest as if that can bring him more contact, more pleasure. He's not sure if it does but it gives his hands something to do as Aomine works.

A few more seconds of this eager to please combination of mouth and hands makes Kise choke out, "Daiki!" as he falls prey to an unbelievably explosive orgasm that shatters his mind.

In the aftermath, he vaguely thinks of how shameful it is to have come in his basketball shorts.

* * *

Aomine takes in Kise's expression and treasures it because the raw tune of " _Daiki_!", the sight of Kise's bliss, his body spasming as his orgasm _wrecks_ him, is for him _alone_ to be presented. _As it should be._

_The only one who can see Kise like this is him, because the only one who can fuck Kise is him._

"So you did call me Daiki," Aomine titters. He had already gotten his own shorts off, now he moves a hand into Kise's and finds it satisfactorily sticky. Because he still has Kise caged in underneath his body, he indulges an impulsive want to look for Kise's heartbeat. When he finds it, pulsing quietly underneath his fingertips, he smirks. It's still going eccentrically fast and they haven't even gotten to the actual fucking. "'s too bad. I wanted to see your ass red with my handprints."

Kise breathes in and out, eyes closed, letting Aomine pulls his shorts down, his cum-sticky boxers.

"You came too fast." Aomine says, leaning over Kise so their chests brush one, twice, skin on skin. In Kise's ear, he whispers, "Haven't gotten fucked in a while, huh?"

Kise shivers, "Please...please..."

"Please what?" Aomine hums, tongue lazily tracing Kise's earlobe, playing with his silver ring earing.

"Stop, stop- you have to-" Kise's words are messy as he struggles, the pillow beneath his back sliding making it hard to squirm. Kise is a mess, has always been one; Aomine hopes he will always stay one. "If I- Kasamatsu-senpai will-"

The name is a problem for Aomine. It's not worthy of falling from Kise's lips, it's a blow to Aomine's ego, and a reminder, every part of Kise's body Aomine touches, Kasamatsu has probably touched too. But none of it will fucking matter, not once Aomine has reclaimed Kise.

With extraordinarily impressive self-restraint, Aomine snarls, "I don't want to hear that name."

Kise's eyes flutter open and blink back against stormy blue ones. For a moment, he looks rather confused. "Daiki, what-"

It's a tiny victory he's still  _Daiki_ and the Kaijo senior is merely  _Kasamatsu-senpai_ but not by much, not nearly enough. So, Aomine says,  "You know I couldn't stand just looking at you back in the fucking gym. Wanted to kiss every word out of your stupid loud mouth a little more, every time you gave away one more."

"I..." Kise bites his lip and that picks at Aomine's want to do the same.

"Listen," Aomine tells him, looking into a still-flushed face pearled with sweat, swollen pink lips, dazed golden eyes, sexy and confused and adorable, all rolled into one grand bundle. "I left the condoms in your room." For a second, he blinks his eyes closed, remembering the locker room situation. But then he opens them back up, and stares down into Kise's. "But I'm clean. Do you trust me?"

Kise stares back, but their contest is not so much of a contest as it is Aomine looking for a trace of doubt, a hint of, 'I don't want this,' a clue Kise doesn't want _him_.

After what feels like forever-

"Yeah. I do." Kise breathes, giving the tinniest of nods, and it's a bit of an admission, a bit of a confession, a bit of a surrender. "Yeah."

That's all the encouragement Aomine needs.

Kise whimpers a little by accident when the other swipes two fingers up his cock, coating them in cum. Aomine eyes them with wonder.

_So much..._

He moves down the bed, and decides on getting a good taste, swirling his tongue around Kise's tip, bitterness not deterring him in the least.

" _Ngh_ …wait...too soon..." By instinct, Kise's legs close in on Aomine's head but his protest is ignored; the two fingers hovering right over Kise's entrance turn into just one, entering impossibly slow.

"Aahh…"

Aomine moves back up to get a high definition view of Kise's expressions, the contorted face when he's fingered faster, a surefire way to make sure his own cum thoroughly smears the walls of his ass, his gaping mouth when Aomine tries curling his finger. "Hey," Aomine says, before covering Kise's lips with his own. After putting his tongue into play, he says, "Like tasting yourself?"

"Not as much as I like tasting you." says Kise, reaching down to give Aomine's hardening cock a firm squeeze while maintaining perfect eye contact.

_Shit._

Swallowing the urge to shudder with only minimal difficulty, Aomine lets out a rumbling chuckle as Kise starts pumping him. "Figures you'd say that. And I'd let you, but I want to fuck your ass right now." He takes Kise's mouth in a longer, sloppier kiss before saying, "Two fingers, yeah?"

His body involuntarily quivers when Aomine pulls out for a moment, spoons up more cum and then inches back into Kise, who breathes deeper, trying to relax.

"Shill, so tight, Ryou." Aomine murmurs, nipping down Kise's neck. "Can't wait for you to be wrapped around my cock. Y'know, I plan on stretching you, and you're going to enjoy it."

"Fuck, shut your mouth." Kise mutters, making Aomine pull off his neck, then reaping the opportunity he has sown by dragging Aomine into another kiss.

Two fingers become three and Kise lets Aomine know what he wants with a long keening whine. That doesn't mean he's going to be let off the hook easily.

"What is it, pet?" Aomine murmurs against Kise's neck, sweeping over countless of marks like he's adding coats of paint to an artwork. "Thirsty? Need some water?"

"Thirsty for your cock," Kise tells him, shamelessness stemming from his level of horny. He's going to die if Aomine doesn't fill him.

Thank god they think along the same lines.

"Fuck, Ryou, don't talk like that." Aomine groans, and finally,  _finally_ , slides his fingers out of Kise's ass, stealing an elongated tortured sound from the owner, who in turn releases him. "Spread your legs more, I'm going to-"

"Ugh." Lust swims in the gold of Kise's eyes; his voice is hazy, sweet on Aomine's ears.

Aomine shifts closer, uses one hand to gently spread Kise's cheeks when he angles himself between them. He teasingly prods the velvety area, brushing his tip back and forth over the puckering entrance, wholeheartedly amazed with the feeling.  _Kise is so...soft. They've never done it without condoms so fuck, yeah, he plans on enjoying this as much as he can._

Watching the blond desperately contract around nothing but empty air brings him a bit of sadistic pleasure.

"Damnit, Daiki!" Kise finally snaps, a frustrated whine, a needy plea. "Fuck me!"

"With pleasure." Aomine grins, shoving himself in.

They both moan. Aomine, because Kise is so fucking tight around his cock, he's probably get all his cum squeezed out of him right now, Kise, because there's so much of Aomine who is so fucking big; fingers could never replicate the huge cock _demanding_ Kise's walls to accommodate him. Both, because it's been too long, because they've always agreed their arrangement isn't executive and have therefore never done it without protection. But now, Aomine wonders how he ever lived with the latex, without Kise, without the contact.

Knowing Kise must need time to adjust, Aomine is careful with driving deeper. But each tiny bit he slides in more brings tense, amazing friction. His eyelids close and he grinds his teeth. Fuck, Kise is clenched around him too hard; he's never going to last a proper round like this.

Kise can't remember every feeling so full, lewd and greedy in thinking, _full of cock, Daiki's nice, big, thick cock_. Inhaling is even a little more difficult; talking coherently even more so. "Did...did you get bigger, Daiki?"

Aomine growls, obviously pleased. He leans down, plants a kiss on the edge of Kise's jaw and says, "Spread your legs more."

Kise obeys, gasping as the angle change allows Aomine to drive even deeper. Toes curling, Kise wraps his arms around Aomine's broad back and whispers, "Move..."

Aomine has never found him more agreeable.

He pulls out about hallway, then slams back in.

"Fuck! Daiki!"

The first few thrusts that follow make Kise's lithe body jolt, limbs jerking against his will. Aomine keeps picking up his pacing, thrusts through the painful bite juncture between his neck and shoulder, and through the noise Kise tries to make words out of.

"Whatd'ya say, Ryou?" Aomine breathes. "Heh, almost forgot how vocal you get. But you know how much I like it, you telling me what you want, what you need. I'm here to please you, babe."

"...please...harder..." Kise chokes out, burying his nails into Aomine's back, slick with a sheen of sweat.

Aomine swallows the rest of Kise's dumb nonsensical noises in a furious kiss and bucks his hips with more vigor, as requested. It's like he's swimming underwater; each thrust brings him into an unique, personal world, solely for him to explore, but he has to come back out for air, _right before_ he dives back in, deeper than ever.

His balls slap against Kise's ass,  _smack smack_ _smack_ , but each lewd sound is overtaken, overpowered by Aomine's grunts and Kise's moans.

A particular thrust makes Kise nip Aomine's lip so hard, he thinks it bleeds. Kise tries for, "Sorry." but it's more of a sob.

"There, huh?" Aomine mumbles, and Kise nods rapidly, trying to translate electric zaps are flitting through his spine.

Aomine can tell, Aomine is panting, "Ryouta. You keep clenching down on me. I'm not going to last...", Aomine has a rising protostar in his stomach, pressure swirling faster and faster, trying to condense, blind to everything but its constant growth and its eventually imminent, all consuming supernova. He growls, "Look at me. I want to see your eyes roll back when you come."

Kise groans quietly. Aomine's so fucking hot, Kise doesn't want to see his dark eyes, his smirk when he comes, it's embarrassing...  _Three, four, five, six_ , He has no idea why he's counting, maybe because that's all his damaged brain can do, forcing its remaining power to focus on something basic so he doesn't have to concentrate on how he's almost... _there._

Each abusive crash into the special spot sends the molten pleasure burning in his blood up another thousand degrees or so, just so it goes from flowing into coursing.

 _Grade 8 electricity unit,_ Kise remembers. _Without circuit breakers, electricity overloads._

And he comes, circuits overheating.

With Kise clenching down on him, trying to drain his dick, Aomine hisses a second later, " _Fuuuuuuuck_ , Ryouta!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter contains a little more smut too, please excuse.


	4. All is...Interesting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You're not...going to tell anyone about my, uh, condition, right?"
> 
> "Nah. Wouldn't people like to know how I found out? How would I ever...unless...I let them know about us..."
> 
> As even as Kise's gaze is, this is still a rare case of him crashing Aomine's train of thought. The silence seems to have gone long for a moment too long because Kise releases him with a nervous laugh. "Aominecchi-"
> 
> The nickname is still Aomine's compass to whether Kise is talking to him as a friend or... some other option Aomine can't quite label. 
> 
> "What would we tell them?" Kise's voice is oddly tight. "We're fuckbuddies? I don't think that's the kind of thing you announce to the world."
> 
> "...Yeah. I guess." Aomine swallows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *To anyone wondering about logistics. Let's pretend everyone else but Aomine is bunking with other people; because Touou's ace still gets priviledges
> 
> Thank you to the subscribers and bookmarkers. Consider leaving comments please! Feedback is much appreciated; I spent a lot of time debating on how to write this story; gave me 2 months worth of writers' block.

_"Get on your stomach, Kitten. I want you to be...comfortable."_

_"I'm not doing all the work by myself, start moving. The ride's gotta be good for both of us, yeah?"_

_"Babe, tell me does it feel good, my cum dripping out of your ass? I wanna see you walk around like that."_

_"Your body is mine, Ryou. You are mine. Do I need to let you know another way?"_

Kise would get off on the shameless dirty talk from Aomine's sinfully husky voice alone if Aomine would ever let him. Instead, he is moaning from slowly rocking on Aomine's fingers, long and thick, but still not nearly as nice as Aomine's cock.

He's exhausted and so fucking sore already- it's painful to even imagine the level of agony he's in for tomorrow- but his body is so hot; the familiar pressure is rising again.

"Too much, Daiki, you're going to kill me." Kise groans. Aomine's stamina is impossible; it's _wrecking_ Kise.  

"You sucked my brains out of my dick, so the least I can do is make you as dead as me. And I'm pretty sure you like this." Aomine grins, watching Kise's face but listening to his body. "I'm going to put it in, okay?"

"No, no, no, don't!" Kise's protests are loud and insistent but Aomine remains more attentive to the way his body reacts, how Kise's ass is eager in taking in his hard cock, over and _over_ again, the slick passage made easy for strong thrusts.

And soon enough, Aomine has hit the spot that makes Kise see stars and they are moaning in unison. Kise spills onto filthy towels left from earlier rounds while Aomine thrusts one last time before his climax overtakes him, forcing his eyelids to shut as the heat blasts through him.

After a prolonged moment, Aomine pulls out sluggishly, cum trailing onto the sheets, and rolls over to lie side by side with Kise. Even with their roasting flushes, they stay close enough their shoulders brush, listening to their heavy breathing keeping the room alive.

"Hah, hah...if- if you touch me again, I'm going to have to cut your balls off, Daiki." Kise pants.

"Hm, I think I'll have you again later," Aomine pretends, a wicked gleam in his eyes, even as Kise hits him through obvious exhaustion. "I'm kidding! I'm spent too." _Maybe I'll take a nap. But then again...later..._

Kise shoots him a look. "You wouldn't be human if you weren't."

"I don't know about that, the only one who can beat me is me, remember?"

"Oh, shut up."

Beside him, Aomine folds his hands behind his head. "Final score was 4-4 right?" He smirks. "That's the only one-on-one you'll ever tie with me in."

Kise covers his face and groans, "Ugh, why do you have to be so embarrassing?"

"No denial." Aomine notes, grinning.

The other makes another exasperated huffy noise and Aomine snakes his arm around Kise as he rolls over, propping himself up on an elbow. Without another thought, he brushes his lips over Kise's forehead.

Kise lets out a sigh so soft, for a second Aomine is startled into thinking some fluffy animal spirit has inhabited his body.

"So...are you going to tell me what's up?"

Aomine blinks back down to earth, back down to Kise's curious gaze. It's almost funny how minutes earlier, they'd been gasping each other's names as passion overwhelmed them, and now they're just lying in the same bed, peaceful and casual, like they aren't friends with benefits whose purpose is to allow mutual satisfaction, and nothing more. He asks, "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb," Kise looks up at him, eyes searching. When he finds nothing in the clear depths but honesty, he adds, "You were so pissed off-"

Aomine instantly realizes where they are backtracking too and stiffens. The topic of Kasamatsu is an infected wound he has to get treated, otherwise, he'll never sort out the weird baggage this complication carries, seems to bring up, weighing him down whenever it feels like it.

"Hey. Talk to me." Kise prompts, obviously having noticed his tensing.

Aomine swallows a growl down, an apparently automatic reflex to any topic of conversation. He's never liked talking about...things; it's hard to remember how to do this. "I..."

"You're faster in bed than you are with words, huh?" Kise teases, his smile taking out the sting of his words. "Come on, I don't have all day. Kasamatsu-"

Whether Kise had planned on saying, senpai's probably worrying about me right now, or something similar along the lines, Aomine doesn't bother finding out. "Who fucks you better? Me or Kasamatsu?" He blurts out, and _fuck_ , _what a way to approach a subject_. Maybe it's due to Kise's joke about his stamina, which in full disclosure, wouldn't make sense with the demonstration they'd run through earlier, but now he's gone and done it.

 _Though..._ he can't say he fully regrets going blunt. Only once he has said what he has does he realize he actually wants to know. Although, even through wracking his brain, Aomine can't begin to pinpoint why.

The silence solidifies into palpable, until finally, Kise bursts out into giggles.

Which terrifies at Aomine first, but then mellows out into annoying him. "What?"

"I- I can't-"

"What?!" Aomine demands.

"You- Kasamatsu- Aha!"

He's never found Kise's laugh irritating like he does now.

"Oi!" He growls, and then repeats himself, louder. But the blonds till won't shut up. Aomine decides manual support is needed and uses the first method his mind suggests.

His kiss cuts Kise off midway, also making his eyes widen. But then Kise closes them and parts his mouth.

It should be gross, considering how the other wonderful places they'd each put their mouths on, but Aomine kisses him without a care, gentle but deep.

Eventually, Kise pulls away, looking up at Aomine guilelessly, but seemingly pleased nonetheless. "What was that for?"

"To calm your ass down, you sounded like you were having a seizure." Aomine grumbles, moving his tiring elbow onto a pillow. "Now don't go back to your crazy hyena cackling, tell me what you  _think_ is so damn funny."

"Alright, alright. So...don't take this the wrong way, Aominecchi." Kise says, smiling. "But you're an idiot."

"Hey!"

"You really are," Kise says, still wearing a grin. "Why would you think I'm sleeping with Kasamatsu-senpai?"

"I..." Aomine is _so_ confused right now. "Are you not?"

At this, Kise chuckles again. "No! Senpai is just a good friend."

"But...whenever I turn around, you're talking to him, or touching his shoulder, trying to get his attention."

Kise looks rather amused. "Aominecchi. I do that to _literally_ everyone."

"But you-" Aomine's brain scrambles for evidence to use, accusations to hurl. "I said you talk about your senpai a lot and you asked me if I was jealous!"

Kise shrugs. "Well, I was joking about that."

"...oh." Aomine says, intelligently.

"See, this is why you're super stupid." Kise shakes his head, but he talks fondly. "I bet you have no idea how much I talk about you. Or how much I talk to you. Or how much I hang out with you. And I know we never talked about exclusivity, but you're the only one I'm with, Daiki."

"...oh." Aomine repeats.

The corners of Kise's mouth turn upwards. "But it's nice to know you care. And honestly, I find it hella funny you do. What happened to, ' _Kise, you're so annoying, shut the fuck up.'_   You get too soft for that, Daiki?"

"I could say that now if you'd like." Aomine retorts.

Kise just shakes his head. "I still can't believe you thought I was sleeping with senpai, of all the people-"

"What does that mean?" Aomine snaps, by accident, before he even understands what he's saying. "I mean- uh, never mind."

Kise looks at him curiously but he doesn't need to say,  _just a figure of speech. Are you okay?_  and for that, Aomine is grateful.

"Now that I think about it..." Kise says, "I'm pretty sure Kasamatsu's dating some girl from your school. Apparently they met up because of me? Either way, he refuses to tell me more about her but he's been asking me on advice on treating her."

Well that's all great to hear. But it still doesn't explain, "Why did you keep avoiding me?"

"Huh? Oh. _Oh._ " His brain jots down how Kise looks guilty for a second, but then it's replaced by...what looks like... _embarrassment_? 

Aomine takes a deep breath. "You ignored my texts and walked away whenever you saw me, I thought...I was sure Kasamatsu was your boyfriend...you didn't need me anymore-"

Now, Kise looks exasperated, with his lips all pursed... And yet, he's _still_ smiling. "Still can't figure out you're more of a boyfriend to me than senpai is?"

_You're more of a boyfriend_

_You're more of a boyfriend_

_You're more of a boyfriend_

These are the words that resonate, striking Aomine harder than they really should. They also happen to light an urgent desire to kiss Kise, as if sealing the idea like an agreement of some sort, but Aomine stuffs the idea on a backburner. Right now, they just need to talk.

"I- I know that now, baka!" Aomine grumbles, and for a moment, he pauses, taking in Kise's reaction, Kise's simple _acceptance_. He almost feels like he's using the break to find confirmation the both of them mean what they say. "So."

"So." Kise agrees.

"You were avoiding me because..."

To his surprise, Kise immediately rolls over, sinking his face into the mattress and lets out a confusing sound. "Ugh..."

"Because...?"

"Because...because..." Kise is clearly struggling, eating the bedsheets only serving to muffle him more.

"Just spit it out, Kise, you're being annoying!" Aomine tells him, rapping his knuckles on the other's head none too gentle.

Kise lifts his face, chin resting on the mattress, staring straight ahead. The red blush painted from his earlier highs is still there but now, even his ears are red. Aomine reaches over and feels heat emanating off his thoroughly marked neck. Without a second thought, he starts to trace some of the connected marks, and gently strokes his thumb in small circles over others. Kise visibly relaxes, shoulders sinking down more. He slowly begins, "So. I have. I mean, kinda have. A sex addiction. Um. To you."

Now it is Aomine's turn to go stunned into silence, now it is Aomine's turn to sit up and chuckle, which before long, flows into a full out guffaw. "What did you say?" Aomine gasps, huffing hard. If he hadn't already had Kise so many times, he'd definitely pull the blond into another round. "You _actually_ can't get enough of me?"

"You're a dick." Kise tells him, hitting his shoulder with a closed fist. "Please shut up, don't be your usual insufferable idiotic self."

"Can't get enough of my dick, can't get enough of me." Aomine sniggers to himself. **"** I can't believe you're actually serious! Why didn't you just tell me? Or better yet," His grin smoothly shifts into a coy smirk. "Go with the instincts. Jump my bones whenever you could."

Again, he's smacked, but it only makes his smirk widen.

"I came here to get better at basketball!" Kise protests, sitting up as well. "I've been practicing really hard, ever since I got here! You don't notice much do you, self-centered Aomin-ecchi!"

The dramatic scandalized tone Kise uses keeps Aomine relaxed with the knowledge they're still on the lines of teasing. And the nickname is proof in gold. It's what allows Aomine to hum with ease, "Yeah yeah. And you couldn't have just told me-"

"Because of how embarrassing it is, and because of exactly how you reacted, jackass! Making fun of me like that-" Kise taps his nose patronizingly and he Aomine playfully snaps up at the digit. Kise shoves his face away before swinging his legs off the bed and walking away, all while Aomine watches appreciatively. "I'm going to shower." Kise announces. "Clean up while you're out here." 

Aomine cups his hands around his mouth obnoxiously, "Wait, don't you want to shower with me-"

A choice finger is directed at him. Aomine finishes snickering on his own.

 

 

With the dirty layer of sheets crumped into a big gross ball at his feet, Aomine sits on plain mattress, leaning back into the headboard, the  folded hands behind his head pressed against the wall. The talent show has been entertaining so far; now, the starring stuntmen stack themselves onto of each other like a tower.

When Kise walks back out, hair damp, white towel sitting low on his hips, Aomine automatically catches his eye and grins, making Kise sweep his cupped hands over his face. "Why are you still thinking about it? Please stop thinking about it."

"About what?" Aomine teases. He's been granted eternal satisfaction from this day, from Kise's body, from Kise's confession. And he's going to fucking enjoy it for the rest of his fine life. "I have  _nooooo_ idea of what you're talking about."

Kise doesn't even comment on Aomine's lazy job on cleaning up before sitting on the other side of the bed. "Go grab me some clothing."

Aomine wiggles his eyebrows. "Ooh, want a pair of my boxers? Kinky."

Kise makes a face, not because of the comment, but moreso because of the memory of how Aomine had insisted on him finishing in his underwear like a- like a kid. "I'd slap you if you weren't as dirty as you are." He retorts. "You smell as pleasant as a shit right now."

"Alright, I'm going, I'm going." Aomine hoists himself off the bed. "Check my luggage. Find the gray plastic bag, should have my clothes."

Just as they pass each other, the blond reaches out and fingers secure around Aomine's wrist. "Hey."

Aomine turns inquiringly.

"You're not...going to tell anyone about my, uh, condition, right?" Kise raises a brow rather teasingly. "Pretty sure Satsucchi doesn't need to know about our sex lives, never mind other people."

Aomine laughs again, which so far still retains the feeling of it being something he's been doing all day. Clearing up the Kasamatsu-misunderstanding hadn't only ended up amusing him, it also pumped him with this weird sense of relief that confused him, because why had he gotten so worried over the issue in the first place?

Aloud, he says, "Nah. Wouldn't people like to know how I found out? How would I ever..." He slows down because oddly enough, his mouth seems to be running faster than his mind; it's gotten so ahead he's stuck until his brain catches up. "I mean, unless...I let them know about us..."

As even as Kise's gaze is, this is still a rare case of him crashing Aomine's train of thought. The silence seems to have gone long for a moment too long because Kise releases him with a nervous laugh. "Aominecchi-"

The nickname is still Aomine's compass to whether Kise is talking to him as a friend or...some other option Aomine can't quite label.  

"What would we even tell them?" Kise's eyes become unreadable, his voice oddly tight. "We're fuckbuddies? I don't think that's the kind of thing you announce to the world, unless...unless the reward's greater than the risk." The things in his eyes  _burn;_ his gaze sears Aomine to the spot.

"...Yeah. I guess." Aomine swallows. Kise's old argument, how revealing anything to their friends could potentially become the scandal that would bring down his career, breaks into his mind like a flash flood. It's almost like an automatically provided, default opinion to Kise's cryptic words. "Yeah."

"Right. Exactly." Now Kise looks nothing but uncertain.

Even with the messy jumble of other thoughts, an instinct wiggles its way into first priority, where Aomine wants to wipe away the expression that cries out,  _lost_. But he's not sure how to do that- hell, he's not sure how Kise got there; half of his stupid mind even tries to suggest _he_ is the reason. Which all just adds up to the wonderful load of _confusing_ and _weird_ _._ So instead of being helpful or at least making an _attempt_ , he just stammers, fucking _stammers_ , "Let me, uh, shower. Watch TV. I'll be back, okay?"

When the blond doesn't reply, Aomine becomes the one who turns around and reaches for his hand. Without thinking, he intertwines their fingers and the right words just quietly spill out like natural, like they'd been there all along, "Hey. Please don't be upset. I'm sorry."

Just as he realizes they are now out in the open, as he realizes he _means_ them, Kise has pecked him on the cheek and walked away. With a rather distinguishable smile.

Aomine flusters under warm water alone.

 

From a heap of similar looking black attire, Kise picks out a pair of black boxers and a loose-fitting t-shirt, both immensely comfortable. They also both happen to smell like Aomine.

Rolling onto the stripped mattress, the heaviness throughout his body makes Kise realize at once fatigue is finally setting in, fashionably late. Then there's the additional pain in his lower back. Thankfully, it's started out as merely a mild ache. Either Aomine wasn't half as rough as Kise thought he was, or the hard conditioning he's been putting himself through is actually showing results.

The earlier,  _odd_ feeling of constriction has faded thanks to Aomine's words, freedom gives him time to ponder why the hell it's there in the first place and what it actually means.

" _What would we even tell them? I don't think that's the kind of thing you announce to the world, unless...unless the reward's greater than the risk."_

His own words playback quietly, a dull murmur. _Risk? Pretty obvious, the world criticizes him. Reward...is there even one?_ He's not quite sure why he added on the last part. Maybe he was striving for cliché? Or maybe there is one he just hasn't really considered...

A yawn claws its way out of his throat. He scrubs at his eyes to see _8:30 pm_ flashing in digital red from the clock on the nightstand. They've obviously missed dinner. Not that he still has an appetite.

Drowsiness is a vacuum that has already sucked away the last of his dead-ended second guessing, the urge to relinquish control becoming more alluring by the moment. The soft choir music flittering from the TV is a perfect lullaby.

"Hey, princess."

Reluctantly, Kise cracks an eyelid open. Aomine is standing by the bedside in an identical pair of black boxers, holding a handful of what looks like the remainder of the towels from the bathroom. He looks good with wet hair.

"Blankets." Aomine says simply, dumping his catch onto Kise. "Or lie on these or whatever."

"It's warm enough," Kise says groggily, sitting up and gesturing to his borrowed shirt as he starts to spread them across the mattress evenly.

The bed creaks as the other slides on. While Kise shifts to make space, yawning yet again, Aomine grabs the remote and switches the program off. 

Turned away with his eyes closed as he lies on his side, Kise's murmur is quiet. "Do you think I should text Kasamatsu-senpai?"  _After all, you did pull me out of practice for more than, 'a couple of minutes'._

"And tell him you're sleeping with your rival?" Aomine's low whisper tickles Kise's ear but it's relaxed and reassuring, just like the warm arm draped over him. He smells like cheap soap, the same hotel kind Kise had used. Obviously as drunk in content as Kise is, he stupidly murmurs, "Can't that wait?"

Kise decides it can.


	5. All is Promising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aomine snickers. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Ryou."
> 
> Across from Aomine, Sakurai visibly stiffens. "A-Aomine-san?"
> 
> Aomine spares him a brief glance. Then waves his hand dismissively. "Don't panic, Sakurai, it's just what I call Kise sometimes. I'd never treat you like the way I treat him, like the dumbfuck he is." 
> 
> "Stop cursing, potty-mouth." Kise retorts. To Sakurai, he adds, "And Sakurai-san, it's true, you don't have to worry about me. Aominecchi is a huge softie- he practically loves me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the constant support; I've gotten a few incredibly sweet comments from readers and as always, the soul-warming encouragement of the good friends!!  
> Bits of angst; sorry.
> 
> AO3 TRIED TO SLAY ME: kept deleting changes every time I pressed the dumb save button. Growls. So I ended up rewriting certain parts somewhere else and now the weird breaks won't go away. 
> 
> **Song of the Chapter:** Something Just Like This (Chainsmokers)  
>  **AoKise Moment of the Chapter:** Um, that time in Last Game where Aomine was arguing about Kise's pass with Kagami, and then Aomine JUST DECIDED TO STICK HIS HAND OVER KISE'S MOUTH (btw, also the part right before that, where Kise kinda inhaled sharply like he was expecting -a kiss-) and then Kuroko just smiled cause aokise just happened in front of not only GoM, but also the whole of Japan.

What rouses Aomine is neither sunlight nor an alarm, it's the soft rustling of fabric, the whining creak of the bed, and the sudden absence of what had been a pleasing warmth. Aomine blinks away the sleep as the heaviness in his body lightens and the room slowly slips into focus. On the ground, Kise is crouched, apparently rummaging through his luggage.

"Hey, you, the pretty thief with the nice ass," Aomine calls, voice caught in drowsiness.

Over his shoulder, Kise spares a look blending exasperation and fondness. "Not to mention _sore_. _Everything hurts._ "

Propping himself up with an elbow, Aomine grins, unabashed. And a little more awake. "Wanna return some stolen goods?"

"I wouldn't call the trashy scraps you wear goods," Kise quips, smoothly ducking under the pillow Aomine hurls. "Thankfully, I've always been humble." He raises yet another pair of identical black basketball shorts to let Aomine see his point. "I'll have to make these work."

"So." Aomine says, "Why up so early?" He nods in the direction of the clock. "6:00 AM."

Kise ticks off, "Well, there's the fact that that it's my team's designated wake up time...the fact that we'd gone to sleep before 9:00... oh, and the fact I was, um, kinda _spent_ last night. "

"Mmm."

It's almost amazing how fast the blue of Aomine's eyes falls down the spectrum, and a coincidence midnight blue happens to be one of Kise's favorite shades of the very fine color.

"Speaking of which," Aomine says, tugging on each word more and more. "I could do some more... _spending_ right now. I mean, you've still got your little, _ah_ , sex addiction, right?"  

"...a little bit." Kise answers, obvious in both his discomfort and embarrassment. But It's a definite boost to Aomine's ego, knowing he's _wanted_. Even in the middle of casual conversation. He glances down at himself ever so accidently, like he hasn't been aware he's been shirtless this entire time. 

Kise brings his foot down. "But don't even think about it! I'm going to have enough time struggling with practice, thank you very much!" Aomine looks so crestfallen, Kise would feel sorry...if he wasn't just a _terrible, giant pervert._

"Stop that. I mean, maybe if you're on your best behavior we can have some fun...let's say the day after tomorrow." Kise suggests.

Aomine brightens up immediately, which also lights Kise's urge to roll his eyes. "I'm gonna go. If anyone asks, our cover story is we had an argument about the possibilities of a future game between our schools. We resolved it, then we decided we'd each catch up on sleep."

"...cool." Aomine says. "But, wait, are we- are you gonna be chill?"

"Huh?"

"Are we good? As friends. No more avoiding me, no more ignoring me, yeah?"

"Yeah." Kise blinks. "Okay." It's almost...heartwarming to see concern and blatant _care_ in Aomine during rare moments like these. 

"I mean it." Aomine presses. "Now that I know, there's no point in being cold. We're back to normal. Friends?"

"Friends." Kise agrees, smiling for some reason. "I'll treat you like I usually do...Good morning, _Aominecchi!"_

Finally satisfied, Aomine nods and practices, "Hey, Kise."

* * *

Kise thanks the grand skies for his teammates' acceptation of his explanation. Moriyama, Nakamura, and Kobori share some sort of look that Kise interprets as respectfully deciding not to pry. Harasawa and Kasamatsu each say the same thing," but Harasawa asks, almost curiously, while Kasamatsu makes a very accusatory expression as he repels Kise's statement.

"You _decided_ to catch up sleep?" The senior growls, stepping right up to him, thrusting his face close. 

Kise plays sheepish, tilting his head to the side with a smile colored with embarrassment. "Sorry senpai, I've just been really tired lately? But don't worry, catching up won't be a problem! Today, I'll be working extra hard."

He patiently waits as Kasamatsu tilts his head to better appraise him. Which takes an interestingly long time, ending with their gazes meeting only after the senior has torn his own away from Kise's neck. "Alright. Lead the team for the run." He pauses, rather unlike him, then proceeds to, "I know you'll do your best."

Kise smiles. It's rewarding to know the run isn't all Kasamatsu is talking about.

 

 

Atop of Kasamatsu, Kise's morale is further boosted when he and the team arrive back at the hotel, just in time to pass Touou, presumably heading to the gymnasium.

In the front of the pack is Imayoshi, Wakamatsu and Sakurai each flanking him. All of the players carry plastic bags- a change of clothes. Aomine has a pair of black earbuds plugged in and is discreetly bopping his head in time with the music.

Just as the first round of Kaijo steps into the first elevator, the power forward looks up and their gazes lock.

Semi-automatically, Kise's lips tug into a grin. In return, he receives a pair of raised brows and twinkling, mischievous eyes; a smirk if he ever saw one.

Contentment bubbles in his chest like a fizzy drink. With Innate immaturity getting the better of him, he mouths, _Have fun training,_ forming an L with his fingers, pressing it into his forehead.

Miraculously, Aomine's mirrored grin widens a smidge; then, he is turning down the hall.

In the quiet humming of the elevator, Moriyama curiously brings ups Kise's expression, asking for a cause. Kise keeps it (and if anything, let's it gain more control) as he answers, "No reason."

 

 

The morning is...nice. Because it's Tokyo, shops everywhere are already open. The team begins the warm up walk to personal music or the song of the little sparrows storming the cloudy skies, some of them stretching slowly, some of them talking quietly, most of them still dazed with sleepiness. Kise yawns and almost lunges into a streetlamp.

The signature laughing that reaches his ears is a much better wake up call than the coffee he'd had.

He hurriedly straightens up to turn around and blurt, "Aominecchi?"

"Moron." is his title of address through peals of continued laughter. "Wish I'd had my phone out! could've posted that online and instantly gotten famous." Aomine spreads his arms out. "Title? Busy Model Headbutts a Streetlamp." 

"You're _soooooo_ funny."

"I am." Aomine agrees, all pleased with himself.

"What are you even doing here?"

"Yes, good question, Kise!" Moriyama pipes in, stretching his arms over his head as he walks by. "What is _Touou_ doing here?"

Kise realizes the other players just as Aomine shrugs, saying, "What, can't we go on a team jog too?"

Moriyama casts a look at Kasamatsu, who simply frowns as he in turn eyes the rest of the rival team. Aomine offers him a mocking smile. "Hey, Kasamatsu-san."

Kasamatsu wrinkles his nose.

Kise stifles a giggle with the back of his hand. _Someone's obviously offended._

"Say, Kise, your team is moving pretty slow..." Aomine says casually, aware of but indifferent to Kasamatsu's nasty look and Moriyama's appraising one.

"Your team is behind us." Kasamatsu snaps, letting all his sharp corners poke out all at once.

Aomine spares the senior a glance but it's almost amused. Kise practically snorts. The contrast between today and Aomine's last interaction with Kasamatsu are startling different and would probably immensely confuse anyone other than the two of them. Imayoshi practically apparates into their little jogging group, saying, "You sure about that, Kasamatsu-chan?" Before the retiring Kaijo captain can burst into flames, before anyone can say anything, Imayoshi glances at Aomine. "Be back for gym training at 8:00, alright?"

Like a security measure, with the keycode entered, Aomine's mouth closes. His gaze returns to Kise. "So uh, Kise, wanna run with me? We'll ditch the rest of these slowpokes." Imayoshi is then glanced at, none too discreetly. "And _weirdos_."

Kise tilts his chin, pretending to consider Aomine's proposition. He hums. "I dunno, I run pretty fast. Do you think you can keep up with me?"

Aomine's eyes widen, then settle into wicked. Challenging. Thrilled. "Big words for the pretty model."

"Pretty model, _slash_ awesome basketball player," Kise points out, vanity slowly creeping out. " _Slash_ super athletic guy good at literally every sport-"

Faster than he can protest, there is a warm hand plastered over his mouth. It belong to one Aomine Daiki, who leans in, his eyes dark and glimmering and all too blue. "You talk too much." Aomine tells Kise. His voice, his murmur is rough. But the way he stands casual and relaxed, and the way his smile lines draw emanate nothing but the fondness hid behind his so-called displeasure. (In Kise's peripheral, he suspects Imayoshi and Moriyama are working together to keep Kasamatsu restrained? Because it certainty appears so for some reason...)

His silence is what Aomine takes for an answer, finally dropping his hand as he nods, chin arrowing forwards. "Put your money where you mouth is and try to keep up with me, yeah?"

Kise mentally shakes himself back into focus. Air is inhaled, quick, brief, just enough to unclog his brain. "Let's move."

They match stride for stride as they move through the blob of merged teams until they are jogging at the very front and still picking up on speed, until they find the pace they want to maintain. They are both in peak condition. So, Kise purely blames the agonizing stich in his side on Aomine...and his terrible jokes.

Some are perverse inside-jokes, some are playful quips. Kise makes faces at all of them. He begs Aomine to shut up; the Touou ace doesn't.

(The truth is...Kise doesn't mind. The other truth is they both know.)

 

 

 _It is a Tuesday_ , Kise thinks, chewing methodically. _Bagels are best eaten in stacks_ , Kise also thinks. Even as he finishes, his stomach rumbles happily; agreement if he's ever heard any.

Just as Kise starts to cut through the lobby, he spots his favorite Touou player, comfortably lounged in one of the lobby's loveseats. The rest of his teammates sit close by, also all watching the new captain- the tall blond forward- on the floor, breathing hard through plenty of pushups.

"Hi, Aominecchi." Kise greets, resting his hands on the back of Aomine's seat.

In between those hands, Aomine's head drops back. "Kise?" He looks adorably surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just dropping by to see a friend." Kise tosses out blithely. The way some of the other's teammates perk up, switching interest from Wakamatsu to him and Aomine, doesn't escape his notice. Still, just as relaxed, he moves so he can sit on the armrest. "What are you doing?"

Aomine falls into a grin. "This loser here," He nudges one huffing Wakamatsu in the head with his foot. "challenged me. _Naturally_ , I destroyed him."

"Wow. _Said like a real jackass_." Kise remarks, in a perfect copy of Aomine's arrogant tone. He swiftly disengages from his seat to escape assault, and from a safe distance, pipes up again, "If you were looking for a real challenge, you should've just asked me."

"Selling yourself kinda high, huh Kise? Heh, like you'd be able to keep up with me."

"Wow, are you okay, you moron?" Kise thinks he sees Aomine's eyes gleam while he retorts, "I think we both know I've got more potential. I'm going to beat you soon and you know it."

Aomine snickers. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Ryou."

Across from Aomine, Sakurai visibly stiffens. While he's not the only one, the shooting guard is the only one who squeaks, "A-Aomine-san?"

Aomine spares him a brief glance. Then waves his hand dismissively. "Don't panic, Sakurai, it's just what I call Kise sometimes. I'd never treat you like the way I treat him, like the dumbfuck he is." 

"Stop cursing, potty-mouth." Kise retorts. To Sakurai, he adds, "And Sakurai-san, it's true, you don't have to worry about me. Aominecchi is a huge softie- he practically loves me."

Half of Touou seems to flinch.

"You wish, princess." Aomine says, lazily arrowing a choice finger into the air. "I couldn't care less about you. Hell, you're so annoying sometimes, I'd kill you myself if it wouldn't get me thrown in prison."

"Mean!" Kise wails. "Aominecchi is so heartless!"

"Guess I've got to go find one, huh?" Aomine thoughtfully threads his fingers together. "Oh I know! There's this dumb blond who fawns over me all the time, being the absolute genius I am- I probably could convince him to give me his. And that's only if I don't have it already, which really isn't a possibility considering how awesome I am." Aomine grins.

Wow. How is it possible to lift a head that size off the ground?

Kise snarks, "That was the worst monologue I've ever heard, and I have _two_ older sisters."

Away he ducks, away he laughs. 

* * *

It's the third last day that Kise catches Aomine, outside. Dusk is settling in, the sun melting away through the skies like a ship gradually sinking into depths beyond perception, and in its wake, flooding the air with pink and orange waves. The streetlamps aren't up with polluting the world yet, but it's Tokyo so the rest of the city is. Though he's never been, Kise figures Tokyo gives New York a run for its money.

Aomine is sitting right on the curb, leaning over his lower body, arms on his thighs. His feet rest on the road dangerously so drivers are forced to veer away.

"Baka, your feet are gonna get run over." Kise chides. With that said, he drops down, right beside Aomine, accidently jostling his shoulder. Gravel crunches under his foot.

"They are." Aomine agrees, quiet. Subdued. His eyes don't move away from where they've landed on the street ground.

Kise shifts closer, until he's pressing right against Aomine, who happens to be relatively warm. Trying to uplift the atmosphere, Kise lets his head loll onto the other's shoulder, and in his ear, whispers, "So. What are you doing?"

Aomine- subconsciously or not, Kise doesn't know- sighs; _actually sighs_ before his shoulders sink down a little, giving Kise's head more space. Kise figures his hair is now tickling Aomine's cheek, but the Touou player doesn't seem to mind, he just says, "I...I was just thinking."

"Wow, did it hurt?"

When an expected blow never falls, Kise's squeezed-shut eyes open tentatively. "Ao...Daiki?"

 "Mmm?" is his response; Aomine's eyes haven't even moved; it's like his gaze is frozen between this world and the next, somewhere where Kise can't see.

Hmm. At first, Kise merely nudges him in the shoulder. Aomine sways slightly, but otherwise, remains uncharecteristly unresponsive. So Kise noses his cheek.

At this, Aomine blinks rapidly and shifts his head slightly but doesn't complain. Kise moves on to brushing the length of his jawline, quietly breathing in Aomine's scent.  "Kise…"

Now it's the blond's turn to go, "Mmm?" He's dropped his nuzzling down to Aomine's neck. Heh, Aomine has some soft spots after all. In this moment, Kise bathes in the glory of being the one who has access to them.

"...what are you doing?"

"A pet's gotta treat his owner right, doesn't he?" he breathes playfully. "C'mon, baby, tell me what's wrong. We'll fix it, get through it. We always do."

The Touou ace looks over him carefully- Kise sees the disapproval and reluctance before he hears it, "Kise…"

"Stop saying my name and talk, baka."

"Alright, alright!"

 _Finally, they're getting somewhere._  

 

"I..." Aomine begins, "I was thinking about us. About next year. About how we'll be back to opposite teams again. About how we'll be...apart."

Kise waits and it's almost a slap to his face when he realizes there isn't anything else. He laughs. And laughs, like a teenager on a high. He kinda even feels like one.

"Hey! What the fuck?" Aomine demands.

"It's such unlike you to be down- or think- man, I can't believe it, Aomine Daiki: Fearing His Future." Kise giggles.

"...don't you feel the same way?"

 The agonized desperation bundling his voice sobers Kise instantly, makes him hurriedly put up, "Daiki-"

"Don't you get it? School next year isn't going to be like it is right now. I-I'm probably not going to see you at all, unless we have a game against each other."

Kise repeats, "Daiki-"

"This year was a waste. Yeah, some of the guys were cool- but Touou is nothing special, had nothing I wouldn't be able to find somewhere else. Sometimes...I wonder what it would've been like if we went to the same school. Would you still be my best friend?"

The depths of Aomine's eyes lunge for Kise and pull him into his imagination.

All at once, _Kise can see it_. Kise can see  _them_. Skipping class to play basketball, skipping last period to hurry into the movies early. Playing matches in peaceful isolation long after practice ends. Biking to the local convenience store during lunch and after practice. Putting off homework to play End of Nigh III.

Maybe during home economics, Kise would feed Aomine bits of his baked goods because the moron would've burned his black.

Maybe during practice, Aomine would make some spectacular showy move and Kise wouldn't be able to contain himself; they'd end up making out in the changeroom, to the sounds of  _their_ captain shouting orders at the rest of the team outside and they'd laugh through their kisses. Because how could things get any better?

The scenes are bright and fierce, flames flickering hungrily, lions roaring over one another, all for Kise's attention; he has to shut his eyes so the sounds (of Aomine, of  _them)_ fade out and all that remains are ashes. And the burning feeling that keeps his chest tight.

He knows exactly why it's there. Everything he has just envisioned, imagined as a future, is based on the old memories on what they were. But Aomine's right- everything this summer has been is not going to be a part of his school life.

 _So none of that will be happening._

* * *

* * *

Skidding tires send pebbles scattering and dust bits airborn. The oncoming traffic is loud, but Aomine and Kise are close enough for Aomine to hear everything the other has to say. And they're close enough that Aomine can usually figure out what Kise is thinking.

But not this time. Eventually, Kise's silence brings up an anxiety that gets the better of his weak patience and he urges, "Ryou, c'mon, talk to me."

 Kise looks at him and Aomine falls underneath his searing, yet oddly calming gaze. _Aw, screw what he thought- it's impossible to read Kise._

That's exactly why he almost misreads the other's actions as an unique attack of some sort.  

But really, Kise is just hugging him. Friggen  _hugging_ him.

 

 _What the actual fuck?_

That's what he thinks, that's what he says while squirming furiously. It's such an awkward position with them both sitting. Their knees are banging together and Kise's chest suppresses his arm against his side. 

"Shut up and stop moving." whispers Kise. Directly into Aomine's ears, Kise sounds softer, even more caring than usual.

"No you bastard,  _you_ stop." Aomine insists, trying to pry his arms off. He doesn't need a hug, damnit! "God, are you high?"

"Fuck you, I can hug my best friend if I want to." 

Aomine stills.

"Yeah, I know Satsu-chan is like your sister, but you can't replace me either, Daiki." Kise pauses. "I'm gonna pretty much always be your best friend." He says the last bits with the corners of his mouth sliding up.

In that moment, Aomine thinks its the most beautiful smile he's ever seen. And relaxes, in Kise's arms, finally allowing himself to be comforted. Hells, maybe he didn't want a hug, but he sure is enjoying it now. 

But the nagging doubt is still persistently active in him. Aomine feels pushed to say, "But-"

"-nothing." Kise says, narrowing his eyes. "If you believe you meant everything you said, then you sure as hell should know so did I.  You'll take me out to lunch on Saturday and dinner on Wednesday. I'll come to your school after class on Fridays and we'll play basketball. We'll-we'll work something out, okay, Daiki?"

Kise's confidence is honest, genuine, reassuring...it's even kind of _attractive_.

Aomine nods, mute.

Kise breaks back into his smile. "Good. Now get up." He stands and proffers a hand.

Reacting on instinct, Aomine takes it. "What-"

"We're going to get your mind off of things." Kise says, firm. "Basketball."

* * *

They play unusually quiet. Regular shoes mean low traction, in turn, defining the absence of harsh squeaks. Neither of them are in the mood to talk after their confusing recent one.

But by the time Kise is suffering a 11-16 deficit, he gasps, "Pause."

Aomine listens and joins him on the sidelines where he can choke down half a bottle of water while Kise gradually breathes and swallows the scorching restriction of his windpipe away. Aomine glances over and wordlessly, extends his beverage. Grateful, Kise takes it and  throws his head back, securing a long moment with nothing but the contradiction of his erratic heart and Aomine's serene breathing. When he's finished, both with drinking and thinking and _ready_ , he says, "Daiki. I want you to go Zone on me."

"What?" 

Kise turns his head to snag the other's gaze within his own. He trusts Aomine to know them both well enough. For one, he's a stubborn ass. Not to channel his inner Akashi, but what he wants is what he'll get. And, possibly most importantly, Aomine's _soft_ at heart. The minute Aomine pulled Kise into bed, the minute they mutually silently agreed to revive their friendship, he lost all the keys to his locks. To Kise.

So really, now, the reason he won't deny Kise is because he _can't_ let himself.

So he waits, patient, until Aomine goes, "...alright.

 

And this time, when they step past the sideline and split at the 3-point, Aomine's eyes upgrade from midnight cobalt to a jarringly shock of electric blue, and he becomes the essence of a blue star expanded into a blue giant.

Kise adjusts himself. One heartbeat in, he has his shoulders drawing lax; two in and he's changed his defensive stance. They both know while he doesn't have the physical abilities Aomine has, his skill of mimicry draws an interesting match-up.

And the real game begins now.

Unsurprisingly, they're both incredibly insistent on winning. But the difference between them is Aomine is fighting because he loves the game, and maybe a little to forget what he'd thought, had been thinking, whereas Kise is fighting because he wants Aomine to remember what had been said. Promised.

 ~~ _Apparently, they're very good at paralleling_~~.

 

Kise sticks to Aomine's copy because Midorima can't shoot with Aomine close, Murasakibara, similarly, can't recharge fast enough, Kagami's jump is an actual physicality that he can't use, Akashi's foresight is restrained by Aomine's unpredictability and Kuroko is just plain useless.

But. But. But. Kise knows Aomine, knows him best after all.

Even as brilliant as basketball prodigy Aomine Daiki is, Kise makes the best out of perfect copy. He becomes unreadable, unpredictable, and incapable of being reached, whereas he sees through the loopholes to the totality of Aomine's plans and exploits them without mercy.

As they play, Aomine's eyes go from narrowed, to wide...to shinning. He becomes less of tense and worried, and more of excited. When Kise dunks past the resistance of his outstretched arms finishing the game 30-28, Aomine's landing becomes a stumble. His mouth drops to partially open.

He is staring at Kise. 

So Kise tries not to look like a doofus but it's hard with a grin stretched that wide because, well! He's finally done it, hasn't he! Played Aomine Daiki and _won_. 

The euphoria isn't impending, it's immediate, has already crashed down on Kise. Pride bundles him in swarths while he swims in his glory. His conscience applauds him warmly.

And yet his win and all its personal meaning seems to fade into an alternate dimension when Aomine steps into his space. His breath catches. They are close. Carefully, Aomine reaches forwards and lays his fingers tips underneath Kise's chin, touch gentle, like he's analyzing a precious commodity...or knows he's facing off against something powerful and dangerous, just like him.

The second possibility gives Kise an easier time with breathing.

 

But not by much. Aomine is still staring at Kise, slowly tilting his head. He's looking, hunting for something on Kise's face, in Kise's eyes.

It's unclear whether the search is a success, but then, Kise's happiness gives way to nervousness because suddenly, Aomine is too close. Kise can feel warm air from his breath, can see Aomine's shoulders lifting with each. Kise ducks his head to shake off the odd tingle Aomine's touch brings, so he doesn't have to see Aomine's eyes phase through intense electric to stormy sky blue.

But the other apparently has other plans. The Touou ace's fingers snake around the back of his neck, pressure Kise into raising it, and this time, into staring into a pricelessly unique smile.

And then Aomine is kissing Kise, unexpectedly soft and slow. Sweet.

Kise's eyelids don't shut right away like they would normally because a), he's been taken by surprise; wasn't Aomine just sulking over his loss a moment ago? and b), there are these wild butterflies snapping at his insides, batting their wings furiously in his stomach.

Or is that his heart?

Kise is happy, unbelievably, incredibly, damn well so.

It's just... _something down there hurts_...

...oh _god._

Oh no.

Oh god.

Oh no.

Oh god; he- he _likes_ Aomine Daiki.

* * *

* * *

Losing the game had honestly been a bit of surprise. Not that he didn't know Kise, not that he wasn't aware of Kise's potential or skill or the hard work he'd always put in and continued to do so during their summer camps- he was just taken aback by the fact that Kise _kept his promise._

 _"Oi, Kise, it's cute how much you suck!"_

 

 _"Oh shut up, you big oaf. I'm going to beat you soon."_

 _"Damnit, Aominecchi, you're a monster…but don't worry! I'mma slay you soon."_

 _"Fuck- alright, one more time! I'm gonna win against you, I'm telling you! Stop laughing!"  
_

Well if Kise was nothing, he was at least determined. Beyond reason. Beyond hope. Maybe that explains why while faith and everything else left Aomine, Kise didn't.

When Aomine had taken a very good look at Kise, suddenly, he was subjected to the whole drawing board. Kise, the boy who looked for a sport to set him on fire, found it, and dedicated himself to it. And Kise, the friend who he'd come to know well, and even like, through much time spent together both on court and off. And here, right here, right now, is Kise- the guy who has seen Aomine at his best and his many worsts, yet is still with him, and has played his heart out today, and for almost as long as Aomine can remember. Just like Aomine always has.

They've both been through a lot of change and growth. It's kinda nice to remind himself he's not alone- and never was.

Because all at once, Aomine sees everything Kise is. _Everything he's been, everything he ever was, and everything he'll always be._

 _He sees Kise is kind of...amazing._

The gym is large and quiet. They are still standing together.

"Ao-...Daiki?" Kise murmurs, eyes having fluttered close. He is warm, his skin is sticky with sweat, with beads running down his forehead and staining his shirt.

 

Aomine holds him close, holds him with wonder and appreciation and hope and joy as he kisses him, again and again and again and bit by bit, loses himself- by giving himself away. To _Kise_.

 _God, how did I survive full days without you? I need you. So much._

"Thanks Ryou." Is what leaves his mouth, as he presses his lips to Kise's forehead, blond locks swiping at his nose.

In his head,  _I think I love you,_ is what his brain blurts out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I did it again? xD  
> Extended the story by a chapter?
> 
> Either way, hope you're still enjoying it.


	6. All is Well; Better than Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm talking about how I'm glad you decided to finally tell me about dating Dai-chan." She says each word slowly.
> 
> "I'm not 'dating' Daiki." Kise tells her, and if he says so with a pinch of salt, a dab of venom, it's because he's never been more sure of anything in his lifetime- because he would know if he was dating someone.
> 
> ...he would know if he was dating Aomine Daiki.
> 
> And that's why he's unhappy he's not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I CHANNELED MY ANXIETY INTO KISE; now he has a terrible inner dialogue as well AHAH  
> Two big notes, a) So many cultural inaccuracies! I'm sorry!, b) LMAO it's practically a cliche sitcom now :D
> 
> Omgosh, can't believe this is the last chapter! Thank you to all the people who've been reading, I WISH I COULD SHOWER YOU WISH BEAUTIFUL WORDS but apparently that isn't one of my abilities outside of fanfiction LMAO.
> 
> This has been a really long story, with most of it being aokise banter than actual plot- my apologies xD A lot of it also is just free Crack!
> 
> Anyways! Hope you enjoy, thank you all <3 <3 <3

Kise is having trouble breathing and  _ha, ironically,_ _for once, it's not because Aomine is kissing him out of his air._ No, the cause of his handicap is having  _Aomine_ press tender kisses to his forehead-  _while he knows he likes Aomine._

The empty gym is Kise's audience, shocked into silence with his searing revelation.

But. But. _But._ Standing right here, arms wrapped around his waist, Aomine is  _warm_ and  _strong_ and handsome...Kise lets out a sigh, warming into the proffered comfort. Standing here, right in Aomine's arms like this is where he belongs and Aomine is never going to let him go...it's kinda _nice_.. _.holy mother of all fuck, what was that thought right there? Oh god. He's way beyond 'liking' Aomine, he's fallen for Aomine._ H-a-r-d.

His conscious finally charges the defibrillator to his brain and the shock sets him into immediate motion. "Ah!" he gasps, and the spirits of embarrassment commit their first arson in the human world, setting his cheeks alight first, and then his ears. "Aominecchi!"

_Aaaaannnd he's just said that way too loud, ugh-_

The strong, confident fingers peel from where they'd pressed warm and firm against Kise's hips. Aomine clears his throat, but his voice is left jumpy and hurried. "Ah...sorry?"

What is he apologizing for? Kise panics. God, he should be the one apologizing. Yeah,  _I'm sorry, Aominecchi, I  know exactly what our arrangement is, but now I've gone and fallen for you-_  that would just be brilliant, about as brilliant as his heart's ridiculous decision on choosing _Aomine_ of all people.

"I couldn't help myself." Aomine says, absolutely rueful, and while Kise humorlessly thinks, _gee, me too_ , the realization Aomine is merely referring to his forward act of public affection keeps him behaved, quiet.

"Ah! No no, it's alright. But um. I. Um, have to go. Right now."

"Oh." Aomine looks a little surprised. _~~Maybe even disappointed?~~ "_ Right now...cool, cool."

"Yeah." Kise replies, lamely. "I'll text you later...Aominecchi."

Because that's the name that feels the safest, and probably will stay so, until he can sort out his dumb emotions.

The worst thing is, it's not even Deja Vu. Kise is 100% aware of why the imposing air of familiarity exhausts the room- _thank you very much_ \- and the guilt for confusing Aomine like this is already settling down like disturbed sand sinking back onto the ocean floor while he works his fingers in his hair.

Just when he reaches the doors, Aomine calls, "Hey. Ryou."

Kise looks back.

Aomine shrugs, sheepish but _sincere_. "You were amazing today." Pause. His eyes are dark and his smile is beautiful, because he just lets it be, lets himself go vulnerable, lets himself say, " _You_ are amazing."

A grin like nothing else pulls out of Kise. It turns out Aomine's body is not the only alluring thing about him.

(He gets out of the gym as fast as he can for fear he'll say something just as stupid in return.)

 

 

Two rings go by and Kise is implanting himself into a most uncomfortable comfortable seat, all rich leather and plushy cushion and _uncomfortable uncomfortable uncomfortable._  He needs to spill to someone, not into some furniture.

A crackle; Momoi finally picks up the line. "Ki-chan?"

"Sasu-chan." He whines, too relieved she's picked up, and yet not relieved enough. "I need help. I have a huge problem."

There's a bit of silence where Kise holds his breath because he knows, she'll have the solution and the deep shit he's in right now will all be cleared away. But Momoi abruptly says, "Oh my god, is this a _penis_ joke? Honestly, Ki-chan, I expect this from Dai-chan, but you-"

"No!" Kise shoots her down immediately because the last thing he wants to talk about is...she's actually all too right,if the situation was a little different, he'd probably also be expecting this from Daiki. But as it is, he prepares himself for a long explanation by way of a deep breath. And then, goes, "Um, so. I like Daiki."

Huh. Turns out it isn't so long.

"...yeah?"

 _Sorry?_ Kise grinds his teeth. "Uh, Satsu-chan, what do you mean, _'yeah?_ '?"

"I mean yeah, like, 'so, go on, tell me why you think your boyfriend is cute,' because I'm your favorite girl, even though really, Ki-chan, we both know: Dai-chan is _a sad sad soul_  and you can do better. Nah, you know I'm kidding! I love him, you love _love_ him-"

Momoi's babble obviously streams from a good mood but Kise feels like he's going through a hangover with the way all these loose threads are shoved at him when he can't string them together. He blurts out, "Sasu-chan, what are you talking about?"

The line goes still and he presses his phone further into his ear, expectant.

"I'm talking about how I'm glad you decided to finally tell me about dating Dai-chan." She says each word slowly, like she's stepping into the ocean, testing the waters, lest the floor underneath her toes disappear and take her under.

"I'm not ' _dating_ ' Daiki." Kise tells her, and if he says so with a pinch of salt, a dab of venom, it's because he's never been more sure of anything in his lifetime- because he would _know_ if he was dating someone.

...he would know if he was dating _Aomine Daiki_.

And that's why he's unhappy he's not.

Unsubscribed to his thoughts, Momoi's voice, just as uncertain, returns through the phone, blankly pointing out, "You just called him Daiki."

"That's- I do that now."

"Cause you like him?" She sounds oddly curious. "You call him by his first name because you have a crush on him?"

"No-" Kise bites his lip. It was a mistake to let that slip out, and it hasn't been his first. "It's, very very complicated."

" _Ki-chan._  Give it to me in 10 words."

Kise counts on his fingers, "We're- fuck- buddies- but- I- kinda- learned- I- like-him." He beams, even if she can't see. "10 words! What do you know?"

At first, he mistakes the forthcoming silence as innocent, innocuous even. Then the screaming occurs, in a very very excessive fashion in Kise's opinion. He yanks the phone off his ear but she's already yelling a mess of, "-did you just say that, did you just say, 'fuck buddies'?! I cannot believe you!"

" _Satsu-chan-_ "

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! I haven't even started, you absolute idiot. UGH!"

"It's not as bad as it sounds!"

"Tell that to your pining ass!"

Kise flinches because  _oof, if that isn't a point well earned._  Abashed is how he mumbles, "In my defense, he started it!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Momoi sighs again. "Never mind that, let's talk about you."

Kise nods before he remembers she can't see him. "Okay."

"So, you have...feelings for Dai-chan. Like feelings _feelings._ "

"Yeah."

"...what are you gonna do about them? What do you  _want_ to do with them?"

His mouth shuts down.  _That_ , is a very good question. And it deserves an equally good answer... But he just blurts out, "What should I do with them?"

"Ki-chan, you're avoiding the question. What do you want."

The options flit through his head, lithe butterflies tempting the little blue-haired bug-adoring boy.  _Tell him, not tell him. Forget it, throw the feelings away, leave the flowers without a vase, without the water they need to sustain themselves._ _Not tell him..._ _tell him._ If he closes his eyes, he can see Aomine kissing him. But it's different, because this time, they're together, each other's...His face burns so hard he's sure even his whisper carries his mortification. "I want him to be my boyfriend. I want him to know...I love him."

"Good." She says, properly satisfied and businesslike.

And for that, Kise is grateful, for having her as a good friend, for having her support, but less thankful when she brightly adds, "I want that too." like he doesn't have enough sisters trying to humiliate him.

But in addition, about now is also when he finally pinpoints the growing burn of embarrassment emanating out of his semipermeable skin to be locally sourced to the whole of Momoi Satsuki, because at the end of the day,  _she is one of Aomine's best friends._ He hurriedly interjects, "Wait, Satsu-chan...you're not going to tell him any of this, right? This is all strictly between us?"

The reply is, "Yes." but even the brief the absence of Momoi's voice is worrying anyways.

"Promise." He insists. It would be wrong for Aomine to find out from anyone other than him.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything, unless you do." She vows loyally. And with a wonderful feeling, he realizes, it however is  _not wrong_  to try and find out about Aomine from a secondary source.

He voices the thought but she shuts him down almost immediately, albeit apologetically. "Sorry Ki-chan, I think it would be best for you to find that out, not to mention a lot more romantic."

 _Not if he says no, not if he breaks my heart,_ he thinks nervously, only vocalizing a simple agreement of, "I guess so. But...do you think, maybe..."

"This is what I can tell you, sweetie." She says, sounding so gentle but sure, Kise feels the endless temptation to allow himself to believe her. "Dai-chan really treasures you, even if he doesn't always find the best way to show it. But he does it, because he really _really_ _cares about you._ "

The words resound, twisting in his ears endlessly; he likes exactly how they sound.

Momoi, with her magical interpersonal skills, senses he's a little bit readier for whatever will happen next, and warmly says, "Alright, Ki-chan. I've got to go. I know you still don't know exactly what to do, but I also know you'll be okay finding out."

* * *

Aomine is a little over himself right now, and, "Shit." is what he flings out, similarly, launching his ball at the wall. It smacks the surface hard, a lonely sound in the large gym, before bouncing away into a roll.

"Shit, shit, shit."

The playback in his head is twice as fast and loops again and again, significantly more unwanted each time.

God- maybe, _maybe_ , he's always had some feelings for Kise, but those are obvious and _normal_  like _Kise, you're a good friend, Kise, you're important to me..._ and ones that run more along the lines of,  _hey, you're hot, lets bang._

Never,  _I love you. Please, please, please...let me date you. Be my stupid boyfriend._

He winds his fingers deep into the thicket of his hair and twists until it burns.

Holy Mother of Basketball, how could he have caught _feelings_?

It makes him feel a little dumb, like a naive little kid with hopes to big for his room and dreams too big for his head, the way he feels like asking himself,  _why do I want Kise so badly?_

His time is then spent missing shots and racking his empty brain until it aches. Or rather, _wrecks_ his brain out of answers. It turns out, he's got a lot of reasons for liking a very special blond.

Really, the question is how does he stop the feelings, how he can block them up like a dam, use a lock and throw away the key...because even if Kise isn't fucking Kasamatsu, there's probably someone around him when Aomine isn't, just because Kise is  _Kise._ If  _him_ of all people, could fall for Kise, well, who wouldn't?

 _Atop of that_ , Aomine thinks, is who _he_ is. Aomine Daiki is a rogue, is not good with feelings, bad with friendships and downright horrendous with romance, if you could even consider all this  _I love you_ stuff a part of that. And the cherry topping it all off, is the fact that they're friends with benefits. And  _nothing more._ Because that's exactly what he asked for, and Kise is perfect in every aspect including service ( _ha_ ).

Dread creeps in through his toes just imagining the awkward conversation where he tries to tell Kise about affect and the infinite ways the ending involves him hurting.  _But,_ Aomine jams a violent reverse. He's pretty sure he won't survive pining after Kise's ass for any lengthy period of time; that might kill him just as dead. And if their fuckbuddies thing continues? All it takes for him to lose control and blurt everything else is one unlucky moment on a bad night.

Still undecided but thoroughly exhausted underneath a layer of sweat, he strides to the bench and picks up his phone.

Satsuki will know.

 

"Hey," He remarks, as soon as she picks up. "Can we, uh, talk?"

"Hi Dai-chan!" She says brightly, like a creepy guidance counselor. "How are you?"

"Good, you? Good too? Good. Now get serious." The words rush out, "I'm in love with Kise. Help me. What do I do."

Dead silence meets his ears but he waits because literally nothing could drag him away from Satsuki, his only hope, an advice-dashing enthusiast. Oh, and close friend. That too.

It dawns on him that she's pretty close with Kise as well and that kindles more bits of confidence this cloud of junk will fall apart soon and leave him nothing but clear skies.

"What did you say?" She says, slow, a bully testing her cornered victim.

Aomine breathes, "I love him, I think." It's real hard, swallowing. Because now he's just admitted what he knows to someone other than himself and that differentiates this from a thought, which makes it wholeheartedly  _real._  

His confidant makes a sound between a bull being taunted and a rooster getting its feathers plucked, which tortured doesn't begin to describe. After Aomine is significantly terrified, she huffs, "You _love_ him?"

"Yeah."

"You love him."

"Yeah, just stop asking, and tell me what I do now!"

Because Satsuki is Satsuki, she counters, albeit still rather angrily, "Not until you tell me more. What made you...decide that?"

"We were playing a game, he crushed me, smiled..." Aomine ticks off. "I figured I'm never gonna meet someone like him again. Smart and sexy and confusing, but in a weirdly intriguing way, dedicated and passionate about things so much it's borderline annoying...everything about him makes him kind of special. I guess."

 _Impressed_  rings in her voice. "Okay Dai-chan. So what do you want to do?"

"What do you mean, 'what I  _want_ to do'?" He growls and he can't help the frustration leaking into his voice because her avoidance of his demand is a dark sign. "Just tell me!"

"No, you idiot," She retorts, instantly reminding him she gets away with the name-calling and other forms of abuse because she's special to him too- but in a different way. Not like the kind of special Kise is. Satsuki continues, snapping, "You don't get to cheat Kise out of anything. Figure out what you want and go get it, _goodbye_!"

"No!" He roars, to a dead line. And to her cool voicemails, asking him to politely leave a message. He leaves one alright; the gym hears curses so vile it'll need to be washed clean from floor to ceiling.

Once the rage dies down (a little after his hand sort of starts to throb), rendering his mind a charred forest, cleared to make way for the new, he becomes impeccably clear on a sole idea. He wants Kise.

So he's going to get him.

* * *

 _Bloop_ , is Kise's wake up call.

He groans, once because he isn't a morning person, and a second time out of dread- even as ludicrous the idea Aomine would call him for no reason is. On his bed, he rolls over to the nigh table, checks his phone, and is more than relieved to find out it's only Kasamatsu, demanding him to come down for the seniors' graduation party. 

 _Coming, 5 minutes~ (◕‿◕✿)_  
_I'm so proud of you, senpai! (✪‿✪)ノ  
_ _even though I'm gonna miss you (╥_╥)_

Kasamatsu replies,  _shut tf up n get here._

Kise grins fondly and falls beneath immeasurable temptations.  _I miss you already waaahhh (╥_╥)(╥_╥)_

While he waits for the incoming-ensured reply, he slides off his bed, figuring his current outfit falls into the improper category. By the time he's changed into a simple shirt and similarly casual shorts, Kasamatsu has texted,  _u r shit u know that get here now_

The Kaijo ace laughs until the elevator doors close.

Downstairs, he walks out with considerable excitement for what should occur next, and spots the other teenager boys merely sitting around. But as soon as Moriyama sees him, the shooting guard rushes over and hooks an arm around his neck. "Kise! You know what you should get me for a goodbye present?"

He smirks automatically. "Let me guess, the girl with the sunhat at the check-in counter?"

Moriyama chuckles, steering them faster. "I was just gonna say her number, but that'll do too."

"Or, I could get you something that'll really benefit you."

"Yeah?"

"Some charisma. Or brains. Maybe both."

"Screw you!" Moriyama rubs his knuckles into Kise's hair with a frenzy but they're both laughing, even as Kise ducks away. Jolting his shoulder right into someone's back.

The apology budding on his tongue frosts over when his head turns to wide blue eyes.

"Aominecchi-"

"Kise-"

The words flutter around in his mouth, all the harder to catch and put together. "Are you, uh, alright?" Kise says, taking in Aomine like they hadn't been hanging out just earlier, and understanding the other's equally casual outfit more than the look in his eyes.

"Oi, Aomine," Imayoshi passes by, knocking his shoulder. "Talk to your princess later, we're about to start."

Kise directs his confusion at Aomine but the power forward is already chasing after the retiree and shoving him along rather forcefully. Surprisingly, Imayoshi merely puts his hands in his pockets as he strides over to Harasawa, letting Aomine have his way.

Just like Kise lets his urges win, even as stupid as he feels, sneaking looks at Aomine's retreating figure.

Eventually, he stops, if only because Takeuchi announces, "Alright boys, listen up!" He looks over them all, possibly counting heads or staring down their innocent expressions. "Some of you may have already heard, Kaijo _and_ Touou-"

Kise can't  _help_ it, his eyes throw over to Aomine. And apparently luck can't help him, because he's unfortunate enough to catch Aomine right then.

Kise drops his gaze a couple of inches to pretend he's really just interested in the upholstery of Aomine's seat. Aomine just looks everywhere but Kise, because he doesn't feel like getting caught staring again.

"-will be having a joint celebration." Takeuchi continues, oblivious to the discord between his ace and his rival.

His statement is acknowledged by little nods by both teams, who seemed to have also agreed to peace. Standing between his star players, ~~allowing Kise the excuse to look in Aomine's general direction,~~ Harasawa says, "We've booked one of the karaoke lounges downstairs, but be very clear, there will be _no_ drinking."

Kise perks up a little at the mention of karaoke but Aomine steals away his attention by loudly calling, "Eh? Then what's the point of going there?"

There are a few guffaws from his teammates but Harasawa calmly says, "Don't make me have to ground you, Aomine."

"Wouldn't dream of it, coach."

More mature snickers; Harasawa raises a brow and continues, "For those who live for their stomachs like Aomine here-"

Aomine takes the blow with a mocking bow, lets a teammate claps him on the shoulder and eats up the rest of the jeers. Kise blinks. If circumstances were different, he would be laughing with them, if not actually causing trouble alongside Aomine. 

"-I promise you'll be satisfied. I also trust you'll find ways to entertain yourself." Harasawa eyes his ace who merely grins back, unabashed.

Nodding, Takeuchi concludes, "Don't break anything, have fun, and enjoy your last day before we head back." and leads the way, Kasamatsu and the rest of the team following shortly.

After he's nudged by Hayakawa, Kise falls in between him and Nakamura and lets himself be swayed into goofing along with them. Avoiding Aomine gets easier, because he can pretend he's just busy with his teammates, and Aomine can't do anything about that. Cause they're not teammates. He and Aomine...they're...Kise's heart spins, a wheel of chance out of control. _Well, I'm not quite sure what we are._

When they reach the venue, Kise actually forgets about Aomine and instead, takes a second to welcome his surroundings.

The wall design is actual basket weaving, textually pleasing under his skimming fingers but resilient enough as a building material. Some of the other guys are already sinking back into beautiful leather seating around eclipse tables, balancing their drinks precariously and tucking in with fevor.

 _Takenuchi and Harasawa are gonna regret letting us come here,_ he thinks vaguely, woefully sympathetic for the whole set.

The lights dabble in a beautiful palette of royal blues, pinks and purples through the lounge, except for the yellows highlighting the stage, with its circular edge cuffed, layered into shallow stairs and plunked farthest from the entry door for maximum viewpoint advantage.

Nearby, Takenuchi speaks to the DJ, a guy with short flat hair, his "Karoke Crew" t-shirt tucked into his jeans, young enough he could pass as fellow Kaijo student, and soon enough, they've got an old song playing, something with a surprisingly nice rhythm. The TVs flanking the stage flicker on and the two fools fiddling with the mikes test them with purposefully horrible voices.

Kise is more than amused just watching them enthusiastically taking cheers and boos. In fact, he's so entertained, he never notices Aomine walking up to him, to say, "Ryou."

Hearing his name, the specialized version no one else will ever use- it makes Kise imagine he's a little bit more special to Aomine than he really is.

"Aominecchi-" He startles, blinking fast, but thinking slow.

"Can we talk for a moment? Um, in private." Aomine rubs the back of his neck, an old nervous habit of his.

Kise barely picks up on that sign because he's busy shutting down, letting the ice sweep through his bones until he's been left grounded into the earth. _Aomine said, 'Can we talk,' which always means bad news, which means Satsu-chan talked to him!_

_Oh god, does he know?_

Tentatively, Kise asks, "What did Satsu-chan say to you?"

"Satsuki?" Aomine shifts, from gaze to shoulders to hands running down the back of his head. "What did she say to you?"

"Nothing."

"Me neither."

He's lying, without an ounce of doubt They both are. But, at least he knows that Momoi's kept her mouth shut because factoring Aomine being Aomine and his lack of tack, if the power forward had known, he would most definitely have already brought it up.

 

"Let's go." Aomine nods and turns. And through blobs of rambunctious teenager boys, Kise follows him without a word, keeping just the right distance between them politically fit for Kaijo's and Touou's aces and for himself personally, the right amount fit for a guy who had a crush on his fuckbuddy.

"Aominecchi-"

"Baka," Aomine says, slowing his stride and turning his head enough to assure their eyes lock, startled amber on intense storm blue. _All just to let Kise know,_  "It's Daiki."

" _Daiki_." Kise echoes, the name blooming on his tongue with a tremendous lack of hardship. "...where are we going?"

"Basketball," Aomine answers, almost puzzled. Kise wants to groan, because _of course._  

 

Their tradition for games has always been 13 points, because that's what they'd been when they'd started it. But, this game happens to be short. While Aomine keeping a full arm length of space between them for defense has always been normal, not closing in on Kise when he goes for a layup isn't. In return, Kise shoots sloppy, moves with bad rhythm and misses more than he scores.

In the end, Aomine shoots a three. Ignoring how perspiration is minimal, they walk to the bench and sit in their silence. Kise busies himself with tying his laces, untying them, and knotting them dead; Aomine drinks enough to pee for an hour straight.

"So." Kise says, and the single word fills the whole gymnasium.

"So." Aomine agrees.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Aomine stares at the lines curving down the leather of his ball and rotates it between nimble fingers. "Actually, I was going to tell you, last night. About how amazing you were. In basketball."

 _Oh._ A jittery laugh drifts out of him and his mouth moves faster than his brain. "Compared to how much I suck today?"

When Aomine slides over on the bench and his arm comes up over Kise's shoulder, he stiffens. His nerves are alert, ready to tell him to flee. But the familiarity convinces his hesitant muscles to relax, while Aomine says, "Actually, what's with that? The shit game you've got?"

"Well you weren't any better." Kise retorts, because he's still proud over having _actually_   _beaten_ _Aomine_.

"Course I was, that's why I won." Is the perfect asshole's response. "Because the only one who can beat me-"

Kise rolls his eyes and turns, grabbing _stupid Daiki_  by the collar. And there, on a small bench in a spacious gym of a Tokyo resort, Kise Ryouta kisses Aomine Daiki out of exasperation. But when he's satisfied and pulls away, it finally sinks in, at a horrifyingly degree. Oh god, what has he done. _You don't just kiss your crush just because you feel like it!_

"Jesus, Ryou."

Kise wants to crawl into a pit and die. Instead, his chin is guided, angled, so Aomine can look into his eyes when he states in all seriousness, "Don't do that, Little Daiki could use a rest."

Kise hits him on the shoulder. "Baka!"

The dubbed knight just laughs. "Hey, this ' _baka',_ was just about to compliment one hot blond model."

"Then go on." Kise urges, in drastic need of an ego-booster.

They're still seated pretty closely; if Kise wanted to, he could lean his head on Aomine's shoulder, have short tufts of blue rustling against his ear as Aomine whispers secret inside jokes and plants sweet kisses up his neck. ~~He wants to.~~

Aomine says, "So." He exhales, like admitting Kise's abilities is like physically conceding to them. "Last night, you were, just, really awesome. Like, you know how you always look up to me? I like that you can do that and still proceed to kicking my ass. And, uh, I just wanted to tell you that."

"I like that I can kick your ass in general." Kise teases, smiling gently, genuinely wholeheartedly appreciative of Aomine's confession. It's adorable to see Aomine this awkward, and an endearing motion in general, because of Aomine's trademark sincerity, blatant and pure. 

 _Kise loves that Aomine can be sweet like this, and that he_ knows _about it. That he's one of the people Aomine cares enough about to show._

"And by the way, that'll be happening more and more often, m'kay?"

"Wow, _said_ like a real _jackass_." 

It takes Kise a moment to realize he's being quoted, but then he flings his grin right at Aomine. "I learned from the best."

"The best, huh?" Aomine's voice deepens, smirk swelling.

"That wasn't a compliment!" Kise protests.

"Too bad. That's what I'm taking it for." Aomine leans in. His eyes gleam, and his low rumble is just as feline-like. "What are you gonna do about it?"

Kise's heart is racing; his pulse rivets in his ears. Aomine's a damn flirt, and a nearly undeniable one at that. But...Kise can't just tuck his feelings away, let himself be charmed, then take them out again another day. That's not how emotions work.

 _He wanted to sleep with you,_ Kise reminds himself, like a stern, protective parent.  _That's all he wanted. Not a relationship, not you. If you give in, you'll get hurt._ The swell of confusing emotions building in his chest is aggressive; they want an outlet.

He has to get out of there, right now.

"Hey," Aomine says, with something akin to concern. He leans forwards, closer, trying to get a better read. "Are you good?"

Kise rises, a little too quickly. "Yeah."

"So. What are you doing?" Aomine sounds confused but Kise doesn't turn around.

"You finished _'talking'_ , right? I think I should be going, senpai will be worried." He's so proud his voice sounds more defiant than upset. "I'll see you, Aominecchi."

"Ryou-" Aomine surges up too and grabs him by the wrist. "What the hell?"

With the momentum Aomine accidentally uses, Kise is forced to turn halfway and sees the other's eyes widening. "Let go of me."

"Ryou, you're crying." Aomine says the only thing outright obvious to him like the oblivious idiot he is. "What- why- are you okay?"

Kise bites back a cruel ~~heartbroken~~   _what do you think,_ and says, "These are angry tears. I'm fine."

"No, you're- fuck, you know I'm bad with words." Aomine growls, and he sounds just a tid more desperate than frustrated. "C'mon, tell me what to do, Ryou." 

Aomine has always been good at pushing limits, but now, it seems he's interested in completely breaking Kise. That's fine with Kise; with his throat burning but his eyes blazing, he snarls, "Fine. There are two things you can do. Either let go of me, or-" He swallows. Just like how he'd realized Aomine was the one in an strike of lightning, a thought occurs in a similarly dramatic manner:  _Fuck it all._  

"Or tell me you love me."

If Aomine truly wants to please him, he'll choose the former option, let Kise take his shame and run to lick his wounds elsewhere; the Touou ace isn't stupid or dysfunctional enough to mess with Kise and say,

"I love you."

Kise's mouth moves, tongue fluttering to the roof of his mouth while air whistles between the gap of his lips. But nothing comes out and instead, he just tastes the salt of his own tears.

Aomine's eyes are _blue blue_ blue as he tentatively steps closer and closer. His whole face is scrunched up into this odd earnest expression, like he really believes in what he's saying, like he  _needs_ Kise to believe him. "Ryou, I'm in love with you." He repeats. 

His fingers are still wrapped around Kise's wrist, but now, his hold is loose enough Kise could easily throw his arm free and tear out of the gym. If he wanted to.

Kise  _doesn't_ want to. What he wants, is to confirm he's not hallucinating, Aomine is not playing the most vile prank he's ever played; that he's actually...that he feels the same way Kise does. 

"Are you sure." Kise whispers, throat hurting, a war wound between fear and hope.

Aomine's eyes soften. He gets even closer, and against the slight difference in their heights, dips his head so his mouth is closer to Kise's, but not yet _there_. His grip is still light, asking Kise to stay, while his voice drops lower, becomes more intimate. "Hi, I'm Aomine Daiki. I love Kise Ryouta."

It's another reason why he loves Aomine, that Aomine is _authentic_ , would never stoop for the cliches Kise has always read about, for, "More sure than anything I've ever been sure of and ever will be." Aomine will always be the person he chooses, because there never has been a different way for him. (And _this_ is when Kise is allowed to get cliche, allowed to think,  _and there never will.)_

Kise blinks away the last of his tears, just as Aomine says, "Are you...do you like me too?" He looks so uncertain. It's a cute contrast to the way he'd been bragging about himself earlier, the confidence he dresses in on a regular basis.

But it's ridiculous that he has to even ask.

"Fuck, yes." Kise says, and even if his eyes are't brimming anymore, his heart fucking is. "You fool, you absolute idiot."

"Hah? What do you mean, you're the-"

Kise kisses him, long and hard, because for some reason, kissing Aomine now is a hundred times better than kissing him normally, and Aomine responds with a fantastic amount of enthusiasm. Eventually though, Kise disengages, (just his lips, not his hands around aomine's neck) demanding, "I'm the what?"

"You're the luckiest guy ever, you're getting the fricken Aomine Daiki!"

"I hate you, do you know that."

"Well, I love you." Aomine says, half for the reason just because he can, half because he wants to astound himself with the speed Kise's cheeks flame up.

* * *

They end up returning to the bench.

It's embarrassing, Aomine thinks, explaining all his feelings. His only consolations are watching Kise scrunch up his face like he's about to cry again, kissing his dumb mouth over and over again, and listening to the comments Kise has for him in return. The latter of which, he jokes and makes fun of Kise for on a surface level, but secretly is touched. (He thinks Kise knows too, but they banter anyways.)

(They also do a _lot_ of shitting on each other for their separate oblivion. At the end, Aomine remains plenty sure it's actually all Kise's fault, but he's too happy to care. Hell, he's past happy, he's almost as visibly giddy as Kise, whose knee hasn't stopped bouncing ever since Aomine took the initiative to reach for his hand and intertwine their fingers.)   

Eventually, the amusement on Kise's face disappears and he says, "So. Um, what happens now?"

"What?"

Kise hesitates with his shoulders a little hunched. "Do we give... _us_ a try?"

Aomine rolls his eyes. "Gee, I don't know Ryou. I just pine after _all_ my friends and tell them I love them and I hope they feel the same way, but I only want to be friends."

Kise punches him in the shoulder ~~and it actually hurts~~. "just wanted to make sure, asshole."

"Make sure what?" Aomine feigns, because he's excited. He wants to hear Kise say it, make  _them_ official to just them, to just their ears, before everyone else.

Kise looks so shy, it's fucks with Aomine's heart. But he waits, doesn't let his mouth move until Kise mumbles, "You actually wanted to date me."

"I'd be crazy not too, idiot." Aomine says this casually, trying to look, sound,  _be_ cooler than the squirming nerves writhing inside him. "Either way. Ryou, will you date me?"

"Will you stay an idiot?"

Aomine gapes at him and he must have looked  _so_ offended, for Kise to burst out laughing so explosively. So joyfully. "Yes! I want to be with you." He beams, throwing his arms around Aomine's neck.

The Touou ace sways a little with the added pressure, and grunts, "I'm not sure I still want you anymore, you sack of potatoes." He only jokes because he's so ecstatic, knows Kise is too, and trusts Kise to be okay with it because this is  _Kise_ , even with all the shit they put each other through.

"Too bad," Kise mocks, quoting him. And after a brief pause- "I love you, Daiki." he says, his voice abruptly shifting to sweet and tender and impossibly vulnerable.

Aomine coughs, even if his skin is safe from showing a flush. That's the first time Kise has said it. And the first time Kise is saying it as his _boyfriend._ "Okay, you've changed my mind." He claims.

"That's one of my super powers," Kise quips. "Here's another-" He shifts his ass on the bench, never once letting go of Aomine's hand, and necks Aomine right beneath his jawline.

Aomine closes his eyes. "I like this one."

But that doesn't mean his ears don't work; the moment a  _creak_  squeaks to him, he stands up, arms awkwardly hanging at his sides, away from Kise.

"Oi, Aomine!" Wakamatsu barks at him, merely head poking out from the door. "Coach wants us to stay together. Get your ass back here." He doesn't even glance at Kise before he leaves.

"What a jackass." Aomine mutters.

Kise shrugs, rising to a stand as well. "I probably should get back too." He pauses, like a frog is struggling to climb out of his throat. "When will I see you again?"

"Whenever you feel like it." Aomine replies, the answer blatantly obvious to him. "Just text me."

"Okay." Kise looks over. And pecks him on the lips one swift, last time, before hurrying away.

Aomine waits a good twenty seconds before he follows. If his face never fully returns to neutral, well, that's something only he needs to know. 

* * *

Wakamatsu is no where to be seen,  _an admirable birthday present, really_ , Aomine distractedly thinks to himself, but neither is any of the others. Which, is confusing.

There is still half-eaten food on the plates sitting around, but no signs of living, breathing people. Even the DJ is gone.

"Ghost town, huh?" Kise says, laughing awkwardly.

Aomine murmurs agreement as he sweeps through the setting. One of the lyric-playing TVs is on and instead of resting on their stands, the two handheld microphones just lie on the stage. When Kise picks up on the target of his gaze, his face sort of goes dead serious. "Aominecchi!"

"No." Is his instant reply, a chemical reaction to the dread creeping up his neck.

" _Aominecchi_!" Kise insists on every damn syllable via whine. His eyes are big and beautiful and  _dammit,_ Aomine is giving in, letting Kise yank on his arm, tugging him the rest of the commute. The Touou student is handed one of the wireless mikes as Kise skips over to the DJ's computer. "What should we sing?" says Kise, with vigorous excitement, a given with how he's succeeded in coercing Aomine. Then, his eyes light up and he is screaming, "OH MY GOSH, I KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD SING." Yet instead of saying the answer, he begins working the keyboard madly.

Aomine snorts once for his enthusiasm and a second time when  _Let Me Burn_ begins to blare through the ginormous speakers. "Hey, screw you man, you know I love this song!"

Kise hums along to the intro with a wide smile, an oh-so subtle  _duh, that's the point._ He drops onto the floor without difficulty, looks up at Aomine, and pats the space beside him.

Aomine concedes and they sing together, loud, in a place meant for dozens of people, not a couple- never mind a literal one. Kise has a nice voice and he knows his music theory crap like the good kid he is, harmonizing at all the right parts and sharing the alternate lines. It's actually kind of fun.

At the end, Kise laughs, and underneath the stage lights, his eyes look like they're shining. "Wow. You're not half bad, Aominecchi."

"I'm never half bad!" He retorts, bumping the other in the shoulder so he sways like a small tree caught by heavy wind. "The only one-"

And this is the fastest Kise has ever cut him off in the middle of his favorite ~~phrase~~ truth. Although, this is the only time Aomine's been kissed to the soundtrack of thunderous claps and the obnoxious whoops only teenager boys can make.

"Yah _Aomine_!" Someone that sounds suspiciously like Imayoshi hoots.

Aomine's fingers fall away from Kise's chin as he glances around.

Except Harasawa and the ugly Kaijo coach, every other basketball team member from both school seems fully present.

_What the hell._

* * *

Today has been a roller coaster and right now, Kise is at the part where he's flown to high for everything to be true, and it's about to all come crashing down.

Instead of, _Kasamatsu-senpai,_ out comes a pitiful squeak. Aomine's actually looking at him, as if he's got a single clue as to what's going on.

Someone finally turns down the blinding strobe lights and replaces them with soft white ones that are much easier on the eyes. Kise blinks until he's focused on the two beings that have strode into the front of their groups.

Imayoshi looks like the same snake he always looks like, but there is _something_ radiating off of him and his relaxed shoulders, and the way he smirks at Aomine. Kasamatsu has not broken one of Kise's ribs- or Aomine's, come to think of it- and now, Kise won't even forecast it as a possibility with how he's nodding, saying, "About time, Tiger."

"What-what," is all Kise can splutter. Sitting down there makes him feel small, as if he needs the fear alongside confusion while a bunch of terrifyingly gleeful faces leer at him. Or for him.

"There's  _ma boy!"_ Moriyama saunters out of the rest of the cheering heterogeneous blob and weighs his elbow on the retiring captain's shoulder. "Kise. Kise.  _Kise."_

"Um." Aomine says, arched eyebrow. His shoulders are stiff, his fingers are clenched tight around his microphone. "What the hell is going on?"

"And I thought you couldn't be any slower." Imayoshi says, and Aomine bares his teeth. "Dual meaning really, I suppose. Obviously we're celebrating you." He side-eyes Kise. "The most oblivious, grossly infatuated couple on this whole planet. Congrats, for taking, what, 3 years to get together?"

It feels sort of like an intervention, the way he and Aomine are just sitting and listening to some very confusing things. "What-what-" Apparently his mouth has been stunned too.

"Literally everyone else but you has known your relationship goes beyond friends." Kasamatsu glances at Kise. "It's in the way you look at him."

Imayoshi smirks at his own junior. "It's in the rare times you smile."

"You're both absolutely in love with each other and yet so damn blind about it at the same time."

"It actually hurts my soul, watching you two flirting on the court." Imayoshi adds. "And why the hell do you think it's appropriate to eyefuck him-" The cheers double in volume and in amusement, Aomine defines outrage, and Kise touches his cheek to make sure the flames he's roasting in are a figure of his imagination. "-while you play. Do you guys have some sort of weird sports kink? Please stop."

Kasamatsu is still grimacing, obviously uncomfortable with the possibility. "Suki called to tell us you were probably ready to get together, and now here we are, welcoming you guys."

Kise wonders if there's another, more diplomatic way of wording,  _um thanks, but now, you guys have made this super awkward_ while the sand of the tilted hourglass leisurely sinks in: Not only has everyone  _thought_ there was something going on between him and Aomine, but they're all  _okay with it._

Aomine is rubbing the back of his nape where Kise knows there are short soft baby hairs growing. The power forward says, "Um, thanks I guess. But who the hell is Suki?"

And the rambunctious noise all dies down. Kasamatsu looks defiant. "My girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?" Kise blurts out.

"You have a boyfriend?" He retorts and someone in the crowd yells again. Kise blushes and shuts up.

To Aomine, Kasamatsu carefully says, "So. I'm dating Satsuki-"

"Like hell you are!" Aomine shoots off his ass and Kasamatsu and everyone close to the stage retreat a step back. Kise grabs Aomine's arm and stands too but he's shrugged off. "You are _not_ dating Satsuki!"

"Then you're not dating my kouhai." Kasamatsu snaps and at least a couple of guys react with laughs. Moriyama downright says, "Whoa. What a move." 

Aomine's _You Can't Date My Daughter You Peasant_ impression has been fabulously amusing but the reason Kise giggles with euphoria bubbling in his stomach, is because he's got awesome teammates who double as great friends. Oh, and, of course-

"You can't- Ryou, tell him he can't-" Aomine looks at him, not pleading but indignant, demanding.

...Kise loves him, _so damn much_. Suddenly giving zero shits about the audience, the setting,  _everything_  else, he pulls his boyfriend in to kiss him exactly the way he feels; like there's nobody else around.

The whoops remind him soon enough and with his lips tingling and a smirk the size of Jupiter, he saunters away. And the lights switch back to party mode, just like the rest of the teens' moods. Which Kise is really grateful for, if only using it as an extra invitation to have Aomine's tongue poking around his mouth while the celebrating seniors go wild.

* * *

_Epilogue:_

Aomine loves Kise's voice. For the banter, hearing Kise whine when he's bullied, or hearing Kise call him up after school to ask for a game. Loves it when they're rolling around in his bed, when Kise is teased to his limits, and yes, ~~especially~~ even when the idiot is singing in the shower. _Let Me Burn,_ sort of just becomes their song.

Aomine loves playing basketball with Kise, and everytime he loses, the awe is new like it's the first time. What he _doesn't_ like is the obnoxiousness Kise inherits immediately.

Aomine loves Kise for how well they already know each other. He knows Kise's favorite food is onion soup, that Kise has two hot older sisters (but they're about as remotely attractive as two potatoes when Kise stands in between them, eyes gold and mouth curled in a grin), and that Kise's least favorite color is pink because, ' _That's the color of ugly earthworms. The pretty ones? They don't exsist.'_ _Kise tells him, cold like fuck._

He knows Kise is proud and determined and while the stubbornness of them as a unit does not always bode well, Aomine knows he will _always_ care enough to want to fix their problems because Kise is worth every bit of frustration and complication.

He loves Kise will never put up pretenses, and he loves that he can always be honest, be the things he's always been, because Kise will never expect him, never  _ask_ him to change the things that count.

_"The cat brought the puppies home, all 11 of them!" From his desktop where he's hunched up with his knees pulled to his chest, Kise bawls in huge, violent sniffs. "ALL OF THEM."_

_"You're ugly when you cry." Aomine tells him. "Your nose is running and your eyes are red and in general, you look like an albino rat."  
_

_Kise laughs until he's back to crying. His gratification is on his tongue when it's winding against Aomine's.  
_

On other days, it's, " _You're pretty when you cry, cause I know you trust me enough to let me see." Aomine will say, pressing kisses to his forehead._

_Kise will squirm, mutter, "Goddamnit Daiki, don't be so mushy." He says, with a blush redder than the splotches on his face. "How am I supposed to react?"_

_"I love you, Ryou."_

_Kise will swear and then crack a laugh and then they'll go do something scatterbrained. Together._

 

 

Aomine loves Kise, and he's so fucking happy it's mutual. And that's all there is to it.

* * *

**Deleted Scenes + Extra -- Crack and author's thoughts.**

 

 **1) Satsuki texts me.**  
  
**Her:** AoKise are dorks. I knew Aomine had feelings for Kise but THEN, Kise told me that they WEREN'T EVEN DATING so I thought,  _wow, I guess I made a mistake_ so when Dai-chan called, I was ready to adapt to whatever he was gonna say, as Kise's casual fuckbuddy- BUT. AOMINE DUMBASS DAIKI SAID, "I'm in love with Kise." so then I was back to,  _omgod i hate you all._

 

**2)  
**

"I caught feelings."

"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD'VE USED PROTECTION."

 

**3) Q: What happens to Momoi after AoKise find out she knew about both of her feelings?**

Kise actually takes her side and gets into a bit of a fight with Aomine about it, if only because he's so friggen happy. Aomine's just kinda pissed tho because he reasons had she told him, he'd be calling Kise _his_ sooner.

 

**4) Momoi points out fuckbuddies aren't supposed to kiss- _weirdos_**

And being the idiots they are, AoKise just shrug cause it never occurred to them ~~because semiconsciously, they just both figured it was okay because of the half-realized feelings~~

 

**5) Momoi and Kise plan for a double date.  
**

It's real friggen awkward, cause half of the time, Kise and Momoi just chatter away while Aomine and Kasamatsu kind of look at each other because the movie's one of those really gross romcoms and it's a lot more fun keeping up the, _YOU BETTER BE TAKING GOOD CARE OF MY CHILD, I'LL KILL YOU OTHERWISE_ thing they just happen to have. The other half of the time? Momoi and Kasamatsu pretend not to know the couple in the heavy make-out session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI EVERYONE. I'M SO HAPPY TO HAVE FINISHED THIS PIECE OF SHIT. JUST KIDDING, I LOVE AOKISE AND WOW, this is my first mid-length story I've finished :D It's an amazing feeling to have made something I can be proud of :)
> 
> I got really lazy (you can probably tell, lmao, what a shit ending), but I am sincere as ever when I say I could not be more grateful to have all you wonderful people reading this work. I hope you enjoyed it, (and shameless self-plug) and I'd be outstandingly delighted to hear what your thoughts (and maybe, just maybe) see you try my other works :)
> 
> (Reminder, come hmu on tumblr, I'm digimondestined)  
> ALSO: we've a discord chat: https://discord.gg/aqT9fMQ
> 
> Viva la AoKise!  
> Cheers, Cat


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